New Yorkers would be right to feel stiffed when their “inflation refund” checks start arriving in the mail — the measly amount won’t even make a dent in the soaring costs of living under Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On Friday, the gov announced that state residents will be seeing the one-time checks for $150 to $400 in their mailboxes in the next couple of months, paid for by the bump in sales tax revenue caused by wallet-walloping inflation.
It’s a blatant gimmick to win over voters ahead of her run for re-election in 2026 — though she’s probably overestimating the good will it’ll buy her.
A few hundred extra bucks won’t stretch into next month for most New Yorkers, much less next year.
Record-high rents and still-punishing grocery prices are just the beginning of state residents’ pain; they’re also now paying for the wallet-squeezing policies that Hochul herself has inflicted on the state.
The governor doubled-down on Andrew Cuomo’s harebrained green energy schemes, and consumers are paying the price; the average monthly rate for residential electric bills exploded 54% between 2019 and 2025.
And it’s only going to get worse; Con Edison is seeking hikes to electric and gas bills, and the state’s Public Service Commission approved steep National Grid rate increases in August, which will add an extra $600 per year to many upstaters’ utility bills.
Energy companies don’t have a choice, thanks to Hochul, who’s waged war on natural gas and relentlessly pushed for a total switch to electric power that the state’s current grid can’t accommodate.
Then there’s Hochul’s much-hated congestion toll, which has been fleecing commuters for nearly nine months.
Even the most generous of the “refund” checks will only cover about two months of the fee, which motorists didn’t have to pay at all before Hochul forced it down their throats.
The governor was at least partially honest while hyping up her checks, saying “this is your money and we’re putting it back in your pockets.”
But she failed to point out that she’s the one who emptied their pockets in the first place.