Inflation relief debit cards for California residents meant to ease the burden of the high costs brought along with the pandemic were sent out Monday. The program, known as the Middle Class Tax Refund, has sent out debit cards containing amounts of $200 to $1,050 that are set to arrive in mailboxes by November 5.
Gov. Gavin Newsom originally proposed the $18.1 billion relief package in May, citing increasing inflation and financial struggles that have arisen since the pandemic as a reason that Californians need help.
“Many folks are still struggling, especially with high costs due to inflation, so we’re leveraging this historic surplus to get money back into the pockets of Californians,” Newsom said in a written statement. “This inflation relief package will help offset the higher costs that Californians are facing right now and provide support to those still recovering from the pandemic.”
To be eligible for the refunds, residents must have filed their 2020 tax return by October 15, 2021, meet the state’s adjusted gross income limits and must not have been claimed as a dependent. Citizens also need to have lived in California for at least six months and be local residents once the check is issued, according to the Franchise Tax Board’s website.
Debit cards will be mailed first to those whose last names start with A through E and then to last names starting with F through Z. Once the cards are received, they’ll need to be activated online.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, whose mission is to mobilize resources to fight hunger in the community, has seen the impact of families suffering from food insecurity and inflation as a cause of the pandemic.
Victoria Lasavath, the marketing and communications manager for the food bank, said that “before the pandemic, the food bank and our partner agency network of over 600 other organizations in L.A. County were seeing about 300,000 families in one month.”
At the height of the pandemic, that all changed, Lasavath said.
“What stood out was that summer of 2020, even the summer of 2021, those numbers were reaching 900,000 to a million. And now, … it’s about 800,000. So it’s come down, however, it’s still relatively high,” Lasavath said.
Financial experts are looking toward the inflation refund to potentially avoid a global financial crisis.
Juan Andres Espinosa Torres, a doctoral student studying economics at USC, hopes the tax refund can help to avoid a recession.
“Given that this aggregate trend of price increases is being stomped by the federal government itself, California can benefit by just bumping up demand a little bit,” Torres said. “What we might experience if we don’t go into a recession is that we might end up close to our potential long-term sustainability.”
Some students hurt by the pandemic are especially looking forward to receiving the relief payments.
“My partner was let go during the pandemic and I’m definitely experiencing a lot of the negative consequences of the pandemic,” said Hailee Chu, a graduate student studying film and television production and a California resident. “Having a little extra cash would help for sure.”
The state expects most debit cards to go out by the end of the year. More information on the qualifications and distribution of the debit relief can be found on the Franchise Tax Board’s website.