- By Steve Bittenbender | The Center Square contributor
- October 14th, 2022
- Republished with Permission: The Roosevelt Island Daily News
(The Center Square) – The checks are in the mail for nearly 2 million New Yorkers, or soon will be.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced it started sending out $475 million worth of checks to 1.8 million residents. The funding is additional state child and earned income credit payments from the state’s Tax Department.
Lawmakers approved the payments as part of the 2022-23 budget agreement they reached with Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year. The state is sending payments to people who received at least $100 in Empire State child credits or the state’s earned income credit on their 2021 state tax return. Those individuals also must have filed their state tax return by April 18 or have been granted an extension.
“We’re delivering these relief checks to hardworking New Yorkers who’ve been feeling the pinch of inflation,” Acting Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Amanda Hiller said in a statement. “The average payment is about $270 for each recipient, which will help address rising costs associated with the pandemic and inflation.”
Recipients of the checks will not need to report them on their 2022 returns.
The department said most recipients should receive their checks by the end of the month.
The checks are being issued the month before the November election, which features Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul against Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin for the governor’s mansion. However, according to The Albany Times Union, Hochul’s name does not appear on the checks.
Hochul, though, did tout the checks in a release last month, saying they were part of her commitment to giving back to New Yorkers and helping to soften the brunt of the current economic climate.
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“This program will put money back in the pockets of nearly two million New York families struggling to make ends meet in the face of the pandemic, inflation, and other rising costs,” she said. “My administration remains laser-focused on improving affordability statewide, and I thank the Legislature for its partnership in ensuring that New York families get this much-needed financial assistance.”
The child credit and earned income checks were just one measure Hochul and lawmakers approved this year that gave checks to millions of New Yorkers. The state also approved a homeowner tax rebate credit for 2.5 million state taxpayers who earned up to $250,000, received school tax credits this year and had 2022-23 school year tax payments greater than this year’s credit.
Each of those checks was for at least $100.
