ALBANY – Entering his final year in office, Governor Pataki yesterday pledged to cut an array of state taxes, lock up more sexual predators, and decrease New York’s reliance on what he called “expensive, polluting, terror-promoting foreign oil.”

In one of his last major speeches as governor of New York before a possible run for the White House, Mr. Pataki outlined what could form the basis of his campaign platform for higher office. Throughout his address, he portrayed himself as an environmentally friendly fiscal conservative, saying his political philosophy is governed by a belief in “active but limited government.”

Often touching on issues of national scope, Mr. Pataki, who has made recent trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, dwelled in his speech on the rise of global competition and twice referenced New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman and his best-selling 2005 book, “The World Is Flat.”

While providing few specific details about the budget plan he will unveil later this month, Mr. Pataki in his final State of the State address offered a preview of what could be his most ambitious tax cutting program since his first term in office in the mid-1990s, when Albany reduced business, sales, use, and other taxes, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

The governor also said the state should pay for the tuition of SUNY and CUNY students who earn degrees in math and science and promise to teach in New York. He called for “dramatically expanding charter schools throughout the entire state.” The number of New York charter schools is currently capped at 100. He did not mention the state’s estimated $2 billion surplus for the current fiscal year, but signaled that at least some of it would be returned in the tax cuts.

Among the cuts he proposed yesterday are reductions in business taxes and the “income tax rate that most New York families pay,” along with the elimination of the estate tax. He also called for a $500 heating fuel tax credit offered to the elderly. One of the people most familiar with the governor’s tax plan, Lawrence Kudlow, whom Mr. Pataki appointed a year ago to head a tax reform commission, told The New York Sun the governor is planning to adopt the group’s recommendations, which will be released later this month.

The commission, he said, will propose reducing the top marginal rates on income taxes – “full cash expensing” for businesses, which would allow them to write off 100% of purchases rather than deducting the depreciated value – and the widening of income tax brackets.

Expanding the income tax brackets would mean a larger share of income would be taxed at a lower rate.The commission also called for getting rid of New York’s estate tax, which has become more visible since Congress began phasing out the federal estate tax in 2001. “There’s no question that the governor is taking a supply-side approach to this budget,” said Mr. Kudlow, who is CEO of an economic and investment research firm, hosts CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company,” and writes a column that appears regularly on the Sun’s opinion page.

The Business Council of New York State called Mr. Pataki’s tax cut proposals “especially encouraging.”

The speech drew plaudits from Republican lawmakers and sharp criticism from Democrats. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, of Lower Manhattan, said the governor “totally ignored health care” and said his tax cut proposals are “geared toward Republican primary voters.”

Mayor Bloomberg, who attended yesterday’s speech, gave it a largely positive review, but told reporters afterward that he would prefer the budget surplus be used not on tax cuts but toward complying with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit by giving more money to New York City public schools.

Aside from taxes, the two other issues that stood out in Mr. Pataki’s speech were his plans to toughen the law on sex offenders and to subsidize ethanol production and usage. The ethanol proposal would likely appeal to corn farmers in Iowa, an early presidential caucus state and the no. 1 producer of ethanol in the nation.

The governor said he would submit a crime bill to the Legislature that he said would prevent the release of sexual criminals “into our neighborhoods,” would propose longer prison sentences for those convicted of sex crimes, and would call for ending “the statute of limitations for rape and other sexual assaults.” It wasn’t clear yesterday if the governor meant the statute of limitations would be eliminated in all cases of rape or only those involving children.

On the issue of fuel dependency, Mr. Pataki said the state should make “renewable fuels” such as ethanol available at gas stations across New York and said the fuel should not be taxed. His energy plan also would help pay for refineries that make ethanol.

“Our reliance on foreign oil is hampering the financial freedom of our working families and their employers,” the governor said. “It is hurting our economy, damaging our environment, and enriching regimes that support, harbor, and encourage the terrorists who threaten our national security.”

Ethanol production in America has become a controversial issue recently. Proponents of the fuel production have argued that it is key to weaning the country off foreign oil, while critics have said producing ethanol uses up more energy than burning it.

Political observers said the major themes of Mr. Pataki’s speech would translate well on the hustings in a presidential campaign. “If you are running for president and you want to ingratiate yourself with the farming community, and you want to ingratiate yourself with fellow Republicans, you tell them you’re going to be the ethanol man,” a Democratic political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, said.

While the governor is far less known among Americans than two other possible presidential candidates from New York, Mayor Giuliani and Senator Clinton, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican, called Mr. Pataki “viable” in 2008: “He’s national, and I think he’s running.” At moments in his speech, which clocked in at less than an hour, the governor tried reaching for lofty oratorical heights. “Let’s heed destiny’s clarion call,” he said. “Let’s promote freedom and opportunity at every turn.”