Michigan legislators skate very close to The Onion’s territory:
State legislators in Michigan held a hearing on Tuesday to consider House Bills 5684 and 5685, which would allow taxpayers to receive tax relief for unborn fetuses past 12 weeks’ gestation. The proposed legislation is an odd push for Michigan Republicans, partly because Progress Michigan notes the state slashed tax credits for children last year — meaning that although parents living in Michigan do not qualify for additional tax breaks to offset the cost of caring for their own children, they could soon be able to claim a tax credit for an unborn fetus.
The standard line is that the right-to-lifers care very much about a child from conception to birth, but after that, hey kid, you’re on your own. That was supposed to be a joke.
We should watch out for this one. It is a backdoor way of establishing the unborn fetus as a person. If you can get a tax break for it then it should be afforded the same rights as a citizen and it then it is only a short step to stronger abortion laws. Hey, Conservatives aren’t the only ones who can lay claim to the slippery slope argument.
Curious questions:
1) Is the deduction per foetus, or simply per expecting mother? One can imagine the number of expecting moms carrying triplets (or more) to increase.
2) Is the deduction available for mothers who are parents of fertility clinics, or just for naturally conceived foeti? So much for “birth as Gawd intended.”
3) Is the deduction available to single parents? There’ll be an incensed roar if that squeaked through: all those “Welfare moms” suddenly elibigle for (gasp) tax breaks…
4) What about a foetus conceived at the end of the year, but aborted early the year following? And if so, is the tax break sufficient to cover the medical procedure?
So many questions, so few wingnut neurons to process them…
grrr. ELIGIBLE.*
“reshpeckabiggle” said Puddleglum.
What’s next? A tax break for being a sperm-producer? Then there’d be laws against masturbation…