Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders are including in the soon-to-be-passed state budget a new system to help finance political campaigns.

They call it the “Family Tax Relief” act.

Lawmakers and the governor last week agreed to give $350 in tax relief to hundreds of thousands of households across the state. Even though they call it a tax credit, the money won’t be taken off taxpayers’ annual tax returns in the spring.

Instead, the governor and legislators will send checks of $350 apiece to residents’ mailboxes, and many expect the checks will go out shortly before November 2014. That’s when the governor and the legislators are up for re-election.

While they say the plan is about helping middle-class families with children, the governor and lawmakers hope the checks will put a smile on the face of voters that will continue beaming when they go into the voting booth.

Critics, including those who have no problem with giving tax breaks to middle-income families, say the tax rebate checks are a political gimmick that uses $350 million of taxpayer money to lure voters into supporting incumbents.

It is a point upon which left-leaning and right-leaning groups agree, and that makes for an odd day in Albany.

“Lawmakers certainly never hesitate to spend taxpayer money on their campaigns when it benefits their own re-election efforts,” said Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which has no position on the actual tax break but does have a problem with the likely timing of the program.

“In many ways, it’s a public finance program only for incumbents, and this only hurts the electoral process,” Mahoney added.

“It’s like a Publisher’s Clearinghouse check in the mail,” added E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank. “It seems pretty obviously politically motivated. It’s meant to say, ‘I’m your friend’ to the middle class.”

The tax break will work like this: Every person or couple with at least one child up to the age of 18 and making between $40,000 to $300,000 will get the $350 check. (Albany reality check: Some lawmakers said the tax break is for families with children from 4 years to 18 years old, while Cuomo and Senate Republicans said it applies from birth to 18.)….

Read article here