Parents can apply for state child tax rebate

At least 300K families are eligible

About 300,000 lower and middle-income families in Connecticut are slated to receive a $250-per-child tax rebate this summer.

The rebates are part of $663 million in tax relief included in the state budget that Gov. Ned Lamont recently signed into law and is touting as part of his re-election campaign.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make Connecticut the most familyfriendly state in the county,” Lamont said at a press conference in Hartford this week to get the word out about the one-time payments.

But Republicans are equating the checks, which are expected to go out in late August, with the income tax rebates that Republican Gov. John G. Rowland gave out in 1998, which Democrats criticized at the time as election year handouts.

“This is just like the Rowland rebate checks of 1998,” said House Minority

Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford. “It’s just a one-time gimmick that provides no systemic change to make the state of Connecticut more affordable for our struggling middle class and lower income taxpayers.”

In recent years, Democrats, led by Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, have tried to establish a new child tax credit in Connecticut but that effort so far has failed. Scanlon has characterized this year’s funding as a step toward making the benefit permanent.

Connecticut is among nearly three dozen states that are seizing on flush budget coffers to provide tax relief to their residents to ease the burden of record-high inflation. Republicans here have said the relief doesn’t go far enough. While Democrats have pointed to federal rules that limit the amount of tax cuts that states, which used pandemic relief money to balance their budgets, can provide.

Candelora said Republicans were looking for more broad-based tax relief. “The focus is on sending checks out to low-income earners and people with children,” he said. “That’s the electorate he needs to get in November.”

How to apply

Here’s who’s eligible for the child tax rebate in Connecticut

and how to apply:

Eligible families must apply with the Department of Revenue Services between June 1 and July 31 to receive the rebate of $250 per child for a maximum of three children. Single parents who earned less than $100,000 in 2021 and two parents whose income was less than $200,000 in 2021 qualify to receive the maximum rebate.

To apply, visit portal.ct.gov/DRS and click the icon that says “2022 CT Child Tax Rebate.” Access to the application process will be available starting June 1.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo The State Capitol building in Hartford. Eligible families for the tax credit must apply with the Department of Revenue Services between June 1 and July 31 to receive the rebate of $250 per child for a maximum of three children.