New Yorkers could get “Inflation Refund” checks of up to $500 from the state government next year under a proposal that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday.
The plan, which must first be approved by state lawmakers, would send out one-time payments of $300 to people who earn less than $150,000 and $500 to families making less than $300,000.
Hochul, a Democrat, is floating the proposal as part of her agenda for the upcoming state legislative session that begins in January.
Payments would start going out to residents in the fall if the plan makes it though the Legislature.
“It’s simple: the cost of living is still too damn high, and New Yorkers deserve a break,” Hochul said in a news release provided to The Associated Press ahead of a news conference Monday in the Bronx.
The proposal would be funded by a pool of excess sales tax revenues that have been mostly generated through inflation's effect on consumer goods, according to the governor's office. The $3 billion in payments would go out to about 8.6 million people in the state.
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New Yorkers who filed tax returns would be eligible for the payments.
