Massachusetts In the first premium pay program of its sort in the United States, Governor Charlie Baker’s administration will begin distributing $500 payments to hundreds of thousands of low-income citizens.
The payments will be made as part of a $4 billion COVID-19 relief package authorized by the governor in December, according to the state’s Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The initiative aims to assist 500,000 employees who had fallen below the state’s poverty level by 2020.
Stimulus Checks Will Be Given To Employees Living Below The Poverty Line
According to the government, residents will be eligible for the payouts if their total income in 2020 was at least $12,750 and they are 300 percent below the poverty level.
Working 20 hours a week for 50 weeks at a minimum salary of $12.75 an hour would be the lower end of that range. The maximum total income to be eligible for the payments for a single filer with no dependents is $38,280.
A person filing jointly with a spouse and two dependents, or alone with three dependents, may be qualified with a household income of up to $78,600, according to the administration. Those who earned unemployment benefits in 2020, however, will not be eligible for the additional stimulus checks.
As part of a COVID-19 assistance fund, Massachusetts will begin distributing $500 payments to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers.
The stimulus checks, costing a total of $250 million, will be distributed to qualified individuals by the end of March, according to Baker’s administration. The $500 payments are the first installment of the $460 million program’s cash distribution.
The government has yet to say how the remaining funds will be distributed after March.
The Massachusetts Office of Administration and Finance also announced on Tuesday that a state website will be created to assist consumers in determining if they are eligible for the stimulus checks.
