I may need to have my palm surgically removed from my face after reading this.
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 the state slashed tax credits for children last year — meaning that although parents living in Michigan do not qualify for 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.
More from Reality Check
Michigan Republicans are now pushing a bill that would grant a tax credit to any fetus proven to be at least 12 weeks along by December 31st. Calling it an "advance" on the actual tax break the family would receive the next calendar year, the GOP frames the financial help as a chance to offset expenses with pregnancy. [...]
The bill, if it passed, would provide about $160 per family and would cost the state $5 million to $10 million per year, according to the report.
Sometimes we speak in jest of Republicans only caring about children until they are born, but this demonstrates that quite literally.
Michigan has seem some of the most dramatics cuts to education and social programs in the nation over the past several years, and up until the November 6th election the state played host to emergency managers who could dismiss local elected officials without any oversight as a means toward an end of curing the state's financial ailments.
How will the state pay for tax cuts for fetuses? By making more cuts to the social programs they will need once they're born?