Fourth Stimulus Check Update: Maine To Send $850 Payments By June 2022

Americans living in Maine could be eligible to receive up to $850 in inflation relief checks this coming June.

On April 20, Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, signed a supplemental budget with provisions to send out $850 in direct relief payments to the state’s taxpayers to help residents “grappling with the increased costs as a result of pandemic-driven inflation.”

“We may not be able to control inflation or global markets, but we can make sure that Maine people have what they need to grapple with these rising costs – and that is what we are doing. Today, I am here to say to Maine people: help is on the way. You are our greatest asset – and this budget delivers for 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. The government will send out subsequent rounds through the end of the year.

Only full-time residents that have filed a 2021 Maine individual income tax return can receive the payments. Residents who have yet to file their tax returns can do so until Oct. 31, 2022.

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

Apart from meeting the income thresholds, residents hoping to receive the checks should not be claimed as dependent on another person’s tax return. The Maine government has set up a website for the relief checks where residents can check whether or not they are eligible to receive the $850 payments.

The relief payments from Maine come as Americans continue to grapple with rising prices. Despite that, neither the Biden administration nor the lawmakers in Congress have indicated any plans of sending out a fourth round of stimulus checks.

In response to the increasing prices and the lack of federal stimulus checks, some states, including California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Mexico have approved legislation to get tax rebates to their residents.