-Jasmine Dyer-
Cousins!
Georgia residents may now claim embryos as dependents on their state income tax returns!
According to guidance issued Monday by Georgia’s Department of Revenue, taxpayers filing returns from July 20 through December 31, 2022, may qualify for $3,000 per unborn child with a detachable human heartbeat. As reported by the statement, this can occur as early as six weeks before most women realize they are pregnant.
As expected, Georgia residents must be willing to provide medical records or other supporting documentation if the revenue department requests evidence.
Although, legal analysts and advocates for abortion rights are not pleased with this new policy claiming the guidance doesn’t specify what will happen in terms of natural miscarriages.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, manager of Stacey Abrams’s campaign for Georgia governor, tweeted: “So what happens when you claim your fetus as a dependent and then miscarry later in the pregnancy, you get investigated both for [possible] tax fraud and an illegal abortion?”
The announcement of the new tax policy follows the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade and the approval of Georgia’s “heartbeat” law which prohibits abortion services to women if a “fetal heartbeat” is detected.
Richard Auxier, a senior policy associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says it’s not clear whether other states will follow suit, but since states are known to copy jurisdictions, it is likely.
“It is an anti-abortion piece of legislation,” Auxier explained how the tax break won’t support most lower-income families. “For most low-income families, there is no benefit at all,” he said. “And for the rest of them, we’re talking tens of dollars.”