New York, NY—Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the FY24 New York State budget will include elements of the Legislature’s Working Families Tax Credit (Gounardes S9610 / Hevesi A04022-A), and will expand eligibility for the Empire State Child Tax Credit to children under four.
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, and Liza Schwartzwald, Senior Manager of Economic Justice and Family Empowerment, at the New York Immigration Coalition:
“While this country and state is facing a massive affordability crisis, the expansion of the Empire State Child Credit to families with babies and toddlers will put cash in the hands of low-income and immigrant families who need it the most – and will literally mean the difference between New York children going to bed hungry or fed. The NYIC has worked alongside Senator Andrew Gounardes in the fight to expand existing tax credits through the Working Families Tax Credit. We commend our elected leaders for ending the arbitrary exclusion of families with children under four years of age in the Empire State Child Credit program, but there is more work to be done. We must include all tax-paying immigrant families who live in New York regardless of legal status, remove the phase-in that denies the full tax credit to the lowest-income taxpayers, and increase the size of the credit that all families receive. When the federal child tax credit expansion was not renewed, New York’s families were left out in the cold. By taking this step towards making the Working Families Tax Credit a reality, New York State is stepping up to prioritize the well-being of all New York families.”