Hochul wants to triple New York's child tax credit

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed expanding the Empire State Child Tax Credit. Unveiled as a preview of her upcoming 2025 State of the State address, the plan pays as much as $1,000 per child up to age 3, and $500 for kids aged 4 and 16.

"The cost of living and raising a family is still too high," said Hochul. "We’re proposing a massive increase to put money back in the pockets of hardworking families." She held a press conference to announce the proposal, which you can watch here:

Families with kids under 4 would get their potential $1,000 in 2025, while the $500 for those with older children would start in 2026. Households with incomes up to $110,000 would get that full payout of $1,000 for younger children and $500 for older children. The benefit would gradually decrease until the $170,000 threshold.

A family of four—with a toddler and a school-age child—that earns up to $110,000 would get $1,500. That's almost $1,000 over the current credit, which tops out at $330-per-child credit for the lower age bracket.

The new plan lowers the cap for the credit, helping middle-class families who couldn't qualify before, because they made too much money. In the new system, a family of four making $170,000 would still get over $500, which they wouldn't have gotten before.

Hochul's new child tax credit system would phase in over two years. It would be the largest increase to the credit in state history. The governor's office theorized that 1.6 million families in New York would benefit, lowering child poverty by 8.2%. And combining the expanded credit with other potential programs—like subsidized child care—could cut child poverty by twice as much.

Hochul's office did not announce a new price tag associated with implementing the new benefit amount. In December, the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council proposed doubling the Empire State Child Tax Credit as part of a suite of reforms costing up to $9 billion.

In a 2024 No Kid Hungry New York survey, 79% of New Yorkers said it was harder to afford groceries, with 85% saying the cost of food was rising faster than their income. Over half were stressed about affording enough nutritious food, and four out of five strongly agreed that ending child hunger should be a bipartisan priority.