Beginning next week, New York State will be distributing 1 million checks to families for up to $330 per child as part of the Empire State Child Credit program.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday that the checks will be mailed automatically to families who already qualified for at least $100 from the tax credit program on their 2023 taxes. The program is designed to be available to families where a single filer or head of household earns $75,000 or less annually, or where married couples who filed jointly earn $110,000 or less per year.
The checks are meant to serve as a one-time supplement to the benefits provided by the Empire State Child Credit program, an initiative promoted as way to help families pay for food, clothing, and childcare. Families will received between 25% and 100% of the amount they previously received through the tax credit, on a sliding scale based on their income.
Last year, the state expanded the tax credit to apply to children under 4 years old, which adds approximately 600,000 children to the program each year, according to Hochul’s statement.
“And with this check, this is how parents will be able to cover the cost of back-to-school supplies and even some clothes in there. And that’s why I’m so proud of this. And no other Governor and no other State Legislature in the history of this great state has distributed this much direct financial assistance to the degree we have to families in New York,” Hochul said at the State Capitol.
The state estimates it will spend $350 million on the checks.
Yet, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, who said he was unaware of the announcement, told Gothamist the governor should be cutting state spending to provide more financial assistance to working class New Yorkers.
“Putting money back in the hands of families is a positive thing — instead of the governor doling out one-time, self-serving checks,” he said by email.
Filers can estimate the amount they’ll receive using the information from their 2023 NYS income tax return (Form IT-201). If they don’t have a copy of their return, they can log into the software they used to file and view a copy of the document, or request the information from their taxpayer if applicable.
