Families in the State of New York may be boosted with an increased Child Tax Credit if Governor Kathy Hochul has her way. Gov. Hochul is focused on addressing the high cost of living and has released two proposals that she says will make a big impact on reducing financial pressure on the residents of New York State. One of them is raising the tax credit for all children from the age of birth to 16 years old, with younger dependents receiving more.
New York State Governor says affordability is a priority
Democrat Kathy Hochul, the 57th and first female governor of New York, is facing re-election in 2026 after serving the state since 2021. She’s serving the people of New York State by focusing on easing their financial pressure, ahead of her State of the State speech, she released two early proposals aimed at addressing the affordability crisis. One of these is the expansion of the Child Tax Credit for low-income households.
Gov. Hochul plans to raise the credit to more than double what families currently receive. She will focus on the proposal in her State of the State address in January and push to include the increase in her executive budget.
Democrat Gov. Hochul says raising the tax credit is “the right thing to do”
In a news conference, Gov. Hochul said she has been working on raising affordability for years. She explained that proposals like increasing the tax credit are motivated in part by experiencing the economic stress that raising children can have on a household. She promised:
“I will continue doing this. I’ll do it independent of elections. It’s the right thing to do. People are hurting right now and we cannot be tone-deaf as a party, as a nation, or as a state to those cries for help. This is how to respond to them.”
One of the insights that emerged during the 2024 election campaign season was that U.S. citizens are deeply frustrated with the high cost of living. Many Republicans feel that if they had given more attention to affordability issues, they may not have suffered the election losses that they did.
Gov. Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are aligned in their policies on addressing the high cost of living. They have already announced tax cuts or refunds they want to be adopted by the Legislature this year, and Mr. Adams has suggested eliminating income taxes for more than 400,000 of New York City’s most vulnerable workers.
You can find more information on the status of the Child Tax Credit and eligibility here.
How much does Gov. Kathy Hochul want to give families in New York?
The Child Tax Credit for New Yorkers has been set at $330 per child in low-income households for a number of years. Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to increase this to $1,000 per child under the age of four and $500 for each child aged four to 16 years.
The billions that New York State has spent on childcare and making funding more accessible to economically vulnerable households have paid off. An expansion of the federal tax credit during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant reductions in poverty among children. However, the expansion was not renewed.
Ms. Hochul’s proposal targets over 2.75 million children in the state. To be eligible, households would need to earn a maximum of $200,000 per year. Ms. Hochul’s team projected that the average credit for families would double from $472 to $943 under her proposal.
In other news about the Child Tax Credit, there’s uncertainty about its future under Donald Trump’s administration. The Republicans have been oblique in their stance on whether to extend, increase, or cancel the program.