Maine will send payments of $850 by June 2022

Americans living in Maine could be eligible for up to $850 in inflation relief checks next June.

On April 20, Governor Janet Mills, D-Maine, signed a supplemental budget with provisions to send $850 in direct relief payments to the state’s taxpayers to help residents “deal with rising costs as a result of inflation caused by the pandemic.

“We may not be able to control inflation or global markets, but we can make sure the people of Maine have what they need to deal with these rising costs, and that’s what we’re doing. Today, I’m here to tell the people of Maine: help is on the way. You are our greatest asset, and this budget delivers to you,” Mills said.

The $850 relief checks will be sent to approximately 858,000 residents, with the first round of checks arriving in mailboxes by June 2022. Subsequent rounds will be sent out by the government through the end of the year.

Only full-time residents who have filed a 2021 Maine individual income tax return can receive the payments. Residents who have not yet filed their tax returns can do so until October 31, 2022.

While there is no salary requirement to receive the payments, residents must meet income thresholds to be eligible for the $850 checks. The beneficiary must be a single taxpayer making less than $100,000 a year, a head of household making less than $150,000, or a couple filing jointly and making less than $200,000.

In addition to meeting income thresholds, residents waiting to receive the checks must not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return. The Maine government has created a relief check website where residents can check whether or not they are eligible to receive the $850 payments.

Maine’s relief payments come as Americans continue to grapple with rising prices. Despite that, neither the Biden administration nor congressional lawmakers have indicated plans to send out a fourth round of stimulus checks.

In response to rising prices and a lack of federal stimulus checks, some states, including California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Mexico, have passed legislation to get their residents tax refunds.

Supply chain havoc and pandemic stimulus spending have fueled inflation around the world, but Brazil, haunted by memories of hyperinflation in the 1980s and 1990s, is undergoing a particularly traumatic adjustment. Photo: AFP / Filipe ARAUJO