They are called Earned Income Tax Credits... you get X per child X, X for a foster child, etc. If you file a tax return, you do get them if you qualify. However, these credits can be taken as cash refunds even in you didn't have a tax liability. Hence, people who didn't work enough to be required to file a tax return (about $12k single or $24k married) may not bother to file and miss out on the refund from the tax credit.
While some people can make big bucks on this tax credit (between state of CA EITC and federal EITC, the max refund in CA is $6k), most people only get a few bucks. In CA, the average person gets $150 back, which is what it costs to file a return with a tax preparer service like Jackson Hewitt. Unless NY has generous EITC credits (unlikely more generous than CA), most of the people in that line who do file will pay more to have the return filed than they will get back. It's a complicated math formula so they have to pay up front to find out what they get.
It is spent on citizens, too. :)
They are called Earned Income Tax Credits... you get X per child X, X for a foster child, etc. If you file a tax return, you do get them if you qualify. However, these credits can be taken as cash refunds even in you didn't have a tax liability. Hence, people who didn't work enough to be required to file a tax return (about $12k single or $24k married) may not bother to file and miss out on the refund from the tax credit.
While some people can make big bucks on this tax credit (between state of CA EITC and federal EITC, the max refund in CA is $6k), most people only get a few bucks. In CA, the average person gets $150 back, which is what it costs to file a return with a tax preparer service like Jackson Hewitt. Unless NY has generous EITC credits (unlikely more generous than CA), most of the people in that line who do file will pay more to have the return filed than they will get back. It's a complicated math formula so they have to pay up front to find out what they get.