The Liz Bruenig Express Comes to Georgia
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I rarely have anything negative to say about any expansion of the welfare state, but the cynicism behind this is pretty gross.
Under Georgia law, fetuses now have “full legal recognition” as living people. That means their parents can claim them as dependents on their tax returns — even before delivery.
The state’s department of revenue said Monday that it would begin recognizing “any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat … as eligible for the Georgia individual income tax dependent exemption” — amounting to $3,000. Taxpayers must be prepared to provide relevant medical records and documents if requested by the department.
The tax benefit is a byproduct of a lawthat went into effect July 20 banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Georgia House Bill 481 was initially approved in 2019 but was deemed unconstitutional, given the protections granted by Roe v. Wade. Once that long-standing precedent was overturned in June, a federal appeals court cleared the way for Georgia’s abortion ban to become law. The court also agreed that “personhood” could be redefined to include fetuses.
The concept of enshrining personhood into antiabortion policy isn’t new. Among the states that consider embryos as distinct people are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas and Missouri, the Associated Press reported. Others states — including Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota —have tried to follow suit, but the proposed pieces of legislation have so far failed, according to the AP.Georgia’s personhood provision is, for now, the most expansive. Not only does it grant tax breaks for fetuses, but it also requires that they be included in some population counts. It also imposes child support “on the father of an unborn child” — amounting to the “direct medical and pregnancy related expenses of the mother.”
But considering the prevalence of miscarriages and stillbirths, some wondered what the implications of the new tax policy could mean for those who experience pregnancy loss. Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis speculated on Twitter that the state’s treasury could end up “handing out a lot of cash for pregnancies that would never come to term.”
What a bunch of welfare waste!!!
Seriously, I guess kids really do matter to Republicans up until the time of birth. After that, these kids will be subjected to Georgia’s terrible welfare benefits that punish the poor. Guess these kids should have been born to “good people.”