Department of Revenue will let parents get $3,000 exemption for unborn children on their taxes

As court battles over abortion access rage on, Channel 2 Action News is learning more about the other impacts Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion law is having on Georgians.

The Department of Revenue said parents of an unborn child or fetus can now claim it as a dependent on their state income taxes.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot spoke to some people Tuesday who say they like the new provision but still don’t like the law.

Some people said they think that $3,000 tax break is great but should’ve come much sooner.

Sharon August brought her three grandkids to play at the Mason Mill Park playground in Decatur.

She doesn’t much care for Georgia’s new abortion law, but she does like the law’s provision of giving unborn children or fetuses tax breaks.

“I mean, eventually, it’s going to be a tax dependent anyway. So as long as they’re going to have the child and they have the child, they should be able to claim it,” August said.

Elliot was in the room in 2019 when Gov. Brian Kemp signed the “heartbeat” abortion bill into law. It wouldn’t go into effect until 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

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The law bans all abortions at the first sign of a fetal heartbeat, which is about six weeks.

But the law also contains a provision that allows mothers and parents to claim that unborn child or fetus as a dependent on their taxes.

The Georgia Department of Revenue issued guidance on that on Monday, saying, “On individual income tax returns filed for tax year 2022, (if) a taxpayer has an unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat, the taxpayer may claim a dependent personal exemption in the amount of $3,000 for each unborn child.”

Lashan Binion told Elliot that doesn’t much care for that law but is OK with that tax dependent provision, though she believes Georgia should’ve had that a long time ago.

“I think that helps. I think that should’ve already been in place. I think there’s a lot of things that the state and the country could do to better support mothers that ... we aren’t doing,” Binion said.

Elliot attempted to contact the governor’s office and the Department of Revenue for comment for this story. Both declined to give one.

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