N.Y. Families Could Receive Tax Credit of Up to $1,000 Under Hochul Plan

Gov. Kathy Hochul has now released two early proposals from her State of the State message that aim to address concerns over the high cost of living.

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Monday proposed an expansion of the state’s child tax credit that would more than double what some families currently receive.

The plan, the second in a series of recent proposals the governor has made toward addressing the state’s affordability crisis, would give eligible families a tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under the age of 4. Each child from the age of 4 to 16 will qualify families to receive up to a $500 tax break per child.

In recent years, the state has offered up to $330 per child for the poorest New York families. Ms. Hochul will include the proposal in her State of the State address next week and push to include it in her executive budget.

Frustration with the high cost of living surfaced among voters in the 2024 elections, and many Democrats, amid soul searching about Republican victories, said they should have talked more about addressing affordability.

Both Ms. Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams of New York City have already announced tax cuts or refunds they want the Legislature to adopt this year. Mr. Adams’s proposal would eliminate New York City income taxes for more than 400,000 of the lowest-wage earners. Ms. Hochul announced in December that she wants to spend about $3 billion to send checks between $300 and $500 to roughly 8.6 million New Yorkers, using money from sales tax revenue.

In a news conference Monday, Ms. Hochul said she has long focused on affordability, adding that proposals like increasing the child tax credit are partly shaped by raising her own children and seeing the financial strain that experience can have on a household.