Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that inflation refund checks up to $400 will be sent this fall to 8.2 million households across New York State. Checks will be mailed directly to eligible New Yorkers starting in October and will continue through November. There is no need to apply, sign up or do anything to receive a check. Governor Hochul secured and enacted this initiative in the FY 2026 State Budget as part of her ongoing commitment to putting money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. The State Budget also enacted the Governor’s initiatives to cut taxes for the middle class to their lowest levels in 70 years, expand New York’s Child Tax Credit to up to $1,000 per child, and ensure universal free school meals to save families around $1,600 per child.
VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4)
AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.
PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page has photos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Good morning, good morning. Sounds like a party; we're here to celebrate. Here we are at the Harlem Center — please sit down — and I'm just looking forward to hearing the remarks from Alicia and Rachel about what this means to families all across this region.
But, there are so many families that are struggling right now — no fault of their own; they didn't count on inflation, they didn't count on tariffs.
Utility bills just seem to be never ending; going up, and up and up. I just had some conversation with some folks this morning, and they just tell me how much the bills are. And groceries, you just look at it every single week and think, “The prices are going up and my paycheck is not,” so it's frustrating.
All I know is the Governor of New York has one duty: protect her citizens and fight like hell to put money back in their pockets whenever I can. So, as we hear from these New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet — young families right here in Harlem just shaking their heads; a senior in the Bronx making the choice — and this is not hyperbole, this is real — between getting that medication filled and being able to buy the groceries they need for their families or whether they can delay that heating bill another month. A teacher on Staten Island who's working just to pay the rent — and I lived this too.
A lot of people are struggling more than I did. We didn't know we didn't have a lot, but it's probably a good thing. My parents used to live in a trailer park and thought they were doing really well when their second child, me, came along and they could get a little apartment and squish us all in a place in the shadow of the steel plant where my dad worked. And we bought our clothes at used clothing stores or my mom would put things on layaway.
They still have layaway? Where — yeah, you, it's kind of embarrassing when you're a kid, and you're going shopping. and you have to walk past the regular checkouts with your mom, and go over to layaway with your clothes for school or for Easter with your siblings, and know you're not going to see them for a few weeks, maybe a few months, until mom could pay it off.
And food, family of eight — had a lot of spam sandwiches, and pancakes for dinner, and tuna casseroles, which I know are still popular, but I didn't like them, but that's how a mom could stretch the budget to be able to feed a big family. So, I knew also as a young mom starting out, and I had a job I loved, but I could not find child care — it was just not available when I worked in Washington on Capitol Hill.
I left that job; my husband had been at a law firm and took a government job at half the wages because he wanted to be a prosecutor and defend people who are bullied and preyed upon. So we were, it wasn't — we weren't starving, but I was that mom who had to have that shopping cart filled with the big, oversized package of toilet paper, and paper towels because it was cheaper to buy it that way, and the diapers, and the formula, and just really hope — as I clenched my coupons in my hand — that I could just make it all work.
So, those experiences never leave you. I mean, at the moment, you're just happy, you're joyful, you're a young parent, you can handle anything. But I look back at families today. Sometimes it's not a joyful experience because you just don't know how you're going to take care of your kids. And I think about my experience, I think about the experiences of New Yorkers today, and I just want to know what else we can do to help — it's that simple. So I go to the Legislature, go to the Budget process with an idea of how we can do something — which is profoundly simple, but so impactful — and that is to put more money back in people's pockets by giving them a whole array of sources.
So when you think about the prices of everything going up — it only seemed like the wealthiest are getting further ahead, people living on the edge, they might go off the cliff — I said, “Affordability has to be the cornerstone of this Budget,” affordability, because as I said back in January, “Your family is my fight,” and I will fight, and fight and fight to do whatever I can to give you that security that you deserve. And so, our affordability agenda focuses on a lot of things.
An inflation refund — what's that? It says that for the last few years, with the price of everything going up — the little kids' clothes, and the diapers, and your kids' backpacks and adults’ prices — everything going up, all the things you need for work; we collected more in sales tax as a result, unanticipated revenue. I said, “This can go into the state coffers, but why not give it back to the residents whose pockets it came out of? They paid more than they ever expected.” That's the whole idea behind the inflation refund, and it's going to be upwards of $400 for families.
We're going to give it back directly — no red tape, no hoops to jump through; just giving you that check. When it comes time to be shopping for fall, school clothes, and supplies, and it's going to be $400 right here — that's what we're doing for families. Over 8 million families across New York will get this.
So, we're going to make it simple, we're going to make it happen, and this is for people in every corner of our state. And Alicia is a proud Harlem resident, a grandmother. She's got adorable 2-year-old Austin. God bless you, Alicia. He is adorable, but I'm sure he is a challenge — and you know the cost. Yeah, yeah. Active little boy. You know what it's like. You've had to see your budget squeezed, and squeezed, and how to make it work, but you're still a nonprofit leader devoted to strengthening your community and supporting young people and families, and I want to make sure that you know that a refund like this is for families like yours — that we see you and we value, and all the people you represent, and putting this money back in the pocket.
But also, it's not just getting started with the inflation refund checks — how about the lowest middle class tax rate in nearly 70 years, benefiting 8.3 million Yorkers, saving a billion dollars across the state. We got it done. Also for little ones like Austin, who's very expensive. He is outgrowing his clothes and sneakers all the time, I can tell. We're going to triple the child tax credit, $1,000 for families with a child under the age of four, and boost the credit for school age, $500 for the older kids.
And all across the state, free breakfast and lunches in schools; some communities have it, some don't, and that's $1,600 per child that you can save not having to buy the extra groceries or having them get that extra money in their pocket every day — and we got that done. That is going to be a game changer for so many families. So when you add it all up — the inflation rebate, the tax cut, the free school lunches, the credits — that's nearly $5,000 back in families’ pockets.
That's real money for every first responder, every retail worker, every teacher, the people who bind our community together, every senior on fixed income, parents working overtime to support their family, and every young person who wants to build their future here — because I want New York to be a place where people don't just get by, they get ahead, and that's what we're delivering with this Budget.
How can I fight for your family? How can I put more money back in your pockets? And that's what we're going to continue to do. We stepped up, we showed how to do it, and this is what I'm going to do right now.
Make it official.
[...]
Thank you. We got it done, everybody, we got it done.