With a plan to make the child tax credit stronger, thousands of families with children in New York could see a “before” and “after” picture. Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a plan that could give up to $1,000 to each child younger than 4 years old and up to $500 to each child between the ages of 4 and 16. This would help parents a lot with the rising costs of raising a child.
The current child tax credit in New York only gives up to $330 per child. This proposal would make the benefit bigger than it has ever been in the state’s history. Hochul said in a statement, “All the costs of living and raising a family are still too high.
From food to baby strollers to clothes for kids, everything costs too much.” “As the first woman to be governor of New York, I know how hard it can be for parents to make ends meet.”
Child Tax Credit: A proposal ready to be approved
If this proposal is accepted, it will have a big effect. Official estimates say that the average credit for families will go up from $472 to $943. With an annual income of up to $110,000 and one child under 4 years old and one school-age child, a family of four could get up to $1,500 a year. This is almost $1,000 more than they would get under the current programmed.
Furthermore, families with bigger incomes might also gain. A family of four making up to $170,000 a year would get more than $500 a year. This is a big change because they do not get the credit now.
Number of families benefited throughout the state
The credit expansion is designed to benefit a total of 1.6 million families in New York, covering both urban and rural areas, as detailed in the following list (Area, number of families, and number of children, respectively):
- New York City
- 740,000 families
- 1.2 Million children
- Long Island
- 215,000 families
- 355,000 children
- Mid-Hudson
- 180,000 families
- 330,000 children
- Western New York
- 118,000 families
- 207,000 children
- Finger Lakes
- 104,000 families
- 180,000 children
- Capital Region
- 86,000 families
- 145,000 children
- Central New York
- 67,000 families
- 116,000 children
- Southern Tier
- 51,000 families
- 89,000 children
- Mohawk Valley
- 43,500 families
- 76,500 children
- North Country
- 35,000 families
- 61,000 children
Statistics of the impact of the child tax credits in New York
Since it began in 2006, the Child Tax Credit in New York has been a key way to help working families. At first, the credit was worth up to $100 per child.
Over time, it was changed so that it reached its highest point of $330 in 2014 and has not changed since. However, studies show that New York’s cost of living has gone up by more than 20% in the last ten years, putting many families in a tough financial spot.
In the last five years, this benefit has helped about 1.3 million families at the state level, which has a big effect on households’ finances. The New York Department of Taxation says that in 2021, more than 70% of recipients said they made less than $75,000 a year. This shows how important the credit is for families with low and middle incomes.
A new study also found that the child tax credit has cut child poverty by 12% across the state, especially in cities like New York and Buffalo. These numbers make it clear that the programme needs to be updated to deal with today’s budget problems and reach more households.
