New York lawmakers are presently reviewing proposed budgets, and among many proposals under review, one debatable provision is expanding the Empire State Child Credit to include children of all ages. Currently, only children between four and 17 qualify for the Empire State Child Credit.

Expanding The Empire State Child Credit: What Does It Mean?

New York’s Empire State Child Credit is a one-time payment that eligible families can claim at the time of filing their taxes. As said above, only families with children aged between four and 17 qualify for this credit as of now.

Many lawmakers, however, want to expand the Empire State Child Credit to families with children under the age of four. State Sen. Jeremy Cooney and many other community leaders are calling for an expanded version of the Empire State Child Tax Credit to be included in the final version of the state budget.

Sen. Cooney wants to raise the maximum credit for children aged 4 and older to $500 and to $1,000 for children under age 4. The senator notes that expanding the Empire State Child Credit would help pull 2,000 children in Rochester out of poverty, as well as assist families to overcome the long-term impacts of poverty.

“48.2. That is the percentage of children in the city of Rochester who live below the federal poverty level,” Sen. Cooney said. “We are not meeting the mark when it comes to investing in our youngest citizens.”

Research from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University claims that expanding the Empire State Tax Credit to $1,000 for all children under 17 (except high-income families) in NYC would cost around $1.1 billion and could produce about $9.8 billion in benefits to society.

Empire State Child Credit: Who Is Eligible And How To Claim It

To be eligible for the Empire State Child Credit, taxpayers need to be a New York State resident or married to a resident for a full year and have a qualifying child. Also, they either need to have a federal child tax credit, additional child tax credit or credit for other dependents, or their New York’s recomputed federal adjusted gross income is $110,000 or less (Married filing a joint return). To know more about the eligibility requirements, visit this link.

To claim the Empire State child credit, taxpayers need to provide a valid Social Security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). The credit amount ranges from 25-100% of the credit received at the time of filing taxes.

Sen. Cooney and others have proposed expanding the Empire State Child Credit in the One-House Budgets of the Senate and Assembly, but the final budget negotiations are still underway. The final budget proposal is due on April 1st, 2023. The expanded Empire State Child Credit needs to be approved by both chambers, and then it will be sent to Governor Kathy Hochul for final approval.

This article originally appeared on ValueWalk

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