Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
The state of New York will be mailing “inflation refund checks” to 8.2 million households, the governor’s office announced Friday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said that up to $400 checks “will be mailed directly to eligible New Yorkers, with deliveries to continue throughout October and November” and that households do not need to apply, sign up, or take any other action to receive the checks.
According to Hochul’s office, joint tax filers with income up to $150,000 will receive a $400 payment, and joint tax filers with income between $150,001 and $300,000 will receive $300.
Single tax filers who have an income up to $75,000 will get $200, and single tax filers with incomes between $75,000 and $150,000 will get $150, the announcement said.
“Starting today, we’re sending inflation refund checks to over 8 million New Yorkers because it’s simple—this is your money and we’re putting it back in your pockets,” Hochul said in a statement about the checks.
But the check will only be sent if the person filed a New York state resident income tax return, or Form IT-201, reported income within qualifying thresholds, and was not claimed as a dependent for the tax year 2023, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance said.
“We will begin mailing refund checks to eligible taxpayers at the end of September 2025,” the tax agency said, adding that because of the “large volume of checks” being mailed out over the coming weeks, some people may receive “your check sooner or later than your neighbors, as mailings are not based on zip code or region.”
The agency added that it cannot provide a specific delivery schedule, and contact center representatives will not have additional information on the status of checks.
The statement said that the check will be mailed to the address that was associated with the person’s most recently filed tax return, meaning that if the recent address was used to file state taxes in 2024, the inflation refund check will be sent there.
It also said that there will be no direct deposits to bank accounts and that only checks will be mailed.
The one-time payments were part of a 2025 state budget provision that was passed in the state legislature. Hochul’s office said that inflation has increased costs of necessities, meaning that state revenue from the collection of sales tax has increased.
The rebate checks are different from stimulus checks, also known as economic impact payments, which have been authorized by Congress through legislation and distributed by the U.S. Treasury Department.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in July introduced a bill that would send tax rebates to qualified taxpayers using revenue from tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump. Hawley’s bill has not passed the Senate.
Inflation rose in August as the price of gas, groceries, and airfare jumped, while new data showed applications for unemployment aid soared. Consumer prices increased 2.9 percent in August from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday, up from 2.7 percent the previous month and the biggest jump since January.
In response to the weakening job market, the Federal Reserve earlier this month cut its policy interest rate by 0.25 percent to a range of 4.00-to-4.25 percent.