Beginning today, the state of Massachusetts will send out a batch of stimulus payments to a select group of citizens.
The $500 stimulus checks are part of the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Premium Pay Program for Essential Employees.
The state will provide $500 checks to more than 300,000 eligible citizens for the second time this year.
The Baker administration is utilizing funds from the federal American Rescue Plan to recognize specific individuals who continued to work every day despite the outbreak.
Individuals who were also among the first 480,000 persons to get one of the first rounds of $500 stimulus checks in March 2022 are disqualified for this second round.
Around 300,000 Essential Workers Will Receive A Stimulus Check
The payments distributed in March were based on a tax return for the year 2020. In addition, a single filer’s income had to be less than $39,000. For a family of four, that figure rises to $79,500.
Anyone who got the first stimulus check is not qualified for this round, according to the Baker Administration. According to Rogers of Western Massachusetts News, every contribution will benefit those residents right now.
“Obviously, given the pace of inflation, it will not last very long,” Rogers noted, “but it could assist with your gas bills and even some of the extra expenses that are piling up now,” Rogers said he does not anticipate another wave of stimulus money to pass Congress since there are lots of jobs available and unemployment is low, but he added that even if you are working, you are living in difficult circumstances.
“Even if you have a job, your income could go up 4 or 5 percent, which sounds fantastic, but inflation is at eight and a half percent, and you are not making any progress, which is very detrimental to people,” Rogers explained.
