A conservative Republican state lawmaker wants to expand the child tax deduction to people who are expecting, not just to parents. With just a few months left in the legislative session the bill may not pass this year, but the sponsor said it will likely be back.
House Bill 654 would allow the definition of "dependents" for tax purposes to include each child conceived by the taxpayer or the taxpayer's spouse during the taxable year. If the parents file separately, that conceived child can be claimed as a dependent only by its mother. It's named the Strategic Tax Opportunities for Raising Kids, or STORK, Act.
Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) said it’s not a step toward recognizing legal "personhood" for embryos or fetuses, though he supports that. But he admitted that's where this idea came from.
“Obviously you know what I believe about that, but I don't think that's what this does," Click said. "This is acknowledging that that child - you can call it an embryo, you can call it whatever you want to, I call it a child - but that they are dependent upon you economically.”
Click continued, “When I had introduced the Personhood Act, some people said, I think most of them were sarcastic and skeptical. They said, 'well, can we claim them on our taxes?' And I thought, well, you know, why not? I think that should be something we can all agree on.”
Click said he’d be shocked if the bill, which he said is "not very specific", passes this year, since lawmakers aren't scheduled to come back into session until after the November election. And the calendar for the lame duck session is busy, with hundreds of bills having been proposed. Click said he introduced it to start a conversation about the idea, which he also says simply acknowledges that child-related expenses begin before birth.
Click said he's not certain how much the bill might cost, but said since it's a deduction and not a credit, "it lowers your taxable income and so it's just less money that you'll be taxed on, so it's not going to be huge."
HB 654 has seven co-sponsors, who are some of the most conservative Republicans in the legislature.
