WASHINGTON — More than a dozen states are sending out checks to millions of people this year, hoping to provide some extra cash to consumers as inflation drives up prices on everyday items across the board.
Many states are able to send these checks because of excess revenue in their budgets. Many of the payments are officially called tax rebate checks.
The checks draw some parallels to the trio of federal stimulus checks provided to Americans by the federal government during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Those checks were an attempt to help workers being kept out of their workplaces by stay-at-home measures — as well as a nationwide attempt to prevent the economy from stalling.
But this latest round of payments are coming from state governments, meaning they won't be as widespread as the last ones, and could vary in how much residents in each state are given.
However, more states appear to be embracing the cash-back plan in 2022. As of July, at least 16 states have stimulus checks that have either passed the legislature or are in the process of approving those checks.
California
About 23 million California residents will receive Inflation Relief checks of up to $1,050 under a budget deal signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in late June. Under the plan, the vast majority of Californians would receive some form of relief, from as little as $200 to as much as $1,050, depending on income level and the size of your household.
Georgia
Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a bill to send payments to Georgians out of a state budget surplus of more than $2 billion. The Georgia payments come in three varying amounts, depending on how each household files taxes: Single tax filers or married taxpayers filing separately: $250; Head of household filers: $375; Married joint filers: $500
Maine
Maine sent out $850 relief checks to an estimated 858,000 recipients who had a federal adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 if filing single or if married and filing separately, $150,000 if filing as head of household or $200,000 for couples filing jointly.
New Mexico
New Mexico is providing multiple rebates for taxpayers in 2022, according to the state Department of Taxation and Revenue.
Colorado
In Colorado, taxpayers will receive rebates of $750 for individual filers and $1,500 for joint filers in summer 2022.
Hawaii
Hawaii is also providing refunds to its taxpayers and their dependents, Gov. David Ige’s office said. The state’s Department of Taxation anticipates that it will begin processing the refunds in late August 2022.
Single taxpayers who earn less than $100,000 per year and couples who earn less than $200,000 per year will receive $300, and single taxpayers and couples who earn more will receive $100.
Idaho
The state began sending tax rebates of $75 per taxpayer and dependent, or 12% of their income tax amount – whichever is greater – beginning in March 2022.
Illinois
Illinois is giving out one-time individual income and property tax rebates to people who meet certain requirements in 2022.
Single taxpayers will receive a $50 income tax rebate, while couples will get a $100 rebate. Families will also receive a rebate amount of up to $300 per dependents – or $100 per dependent, with a maximum of three.
New Jersey
New Jersey began mailing Middle Class Tax Rebates to eligible residents on July 2. Those who filed a 2020 income tax return and claimed at least one dependent child with a tax balance of $1 or more qualify for the tax rebate.
The rebate amount is equal to the tax paid after credits, up to a maximum amount of $500. Tax rebates will be issued as a paper check, separate from the income tax refund.
Indiana
Indiana has slowly been distributing $125-per-taxpayer payments due under an automatic refund law triggered by last year’s large surplus that was boosted by federal COVID-19 relief funding. Legislators are considering GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb’s plan for a second round of refund payments from the state government's budget surplus.
Virginia
Virginia lawmakers approved a one-time tax rebate of $250 per single taxpayer and $500 for a couple filing jointly.
Tax rebates won’t be issued until late September 2022, the state Department of Taxation said. Those who are eligible and filed their taxes before July 1 will “likely” receive their rebate in September or October.
Delaware
Delaware is sending one-time direct payments of $300 per adult resident – or $600 for married couples – to help people as they face “higher prices at the grocery store and gas pump,” the state Department of Finance said.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts has issued $500 payments to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers. The first round of payments, sent out in March 2022, went to around 480,000 people and a second round of payments went to an estimated 330,000 individuals in June.
New York
In June, New York began mailing out a homeowner tax rebate credit, which was a one-year program initiated to provide property tax relief to homeowners in 2022. The checks were originally planned to be sent out in the fall of 2022, but the state sent them out early.
South Carolina
South Carolina residents will get a one-time tax rebate of up to around $800 by the end of 2022.
Florida
Around 59,000 Florida families are receiving a one-time payment of $450 per child as part of the governor's new budget, spokeswoman Christina Pushaw explains in a tweet. The one-time payments are going out to 59,000 eligible Florida families. Foster families, adoptive families, and single parents are eligible for the payments, Casey DeSantis said during a visit last week in Tampa.
Eligibility for a tax rebate check varies by state.
Minnesota's governor has proposed sending $2,000 checks to all joint income tax filers who earn up to $273,470 per year, and single filers who make up to $164,000 annually. But the plan has yet to be approved by the state legislature.
Will there be a fourth federal stimulus check?
As of July 2022, the federal government doesn't appear to have any plans to send a fourth stimulus check to all U.S. residents. The Biden administration has not made an appeal to Congress about a fourth stimulus payment, but legislative gridlock as the 2022 midterms approach all but assures any such proposal would be dead on arrival.
VERIFY contributed to this report.