Tax bill offers recognition of unborn
WASHINGTON — Tucked away in the Republican tax plan are several provisions that have little to do with overhauling the tax code and more to do with ensuring conservative lawmakers vote for the legislation.
The 400-plus-page bill released Thursday includes changes that would codify the rights of unborn children, allow tax-exempt religious organizations to engage in political activities and impose hurdles for immigrants seeking to claim refundable tax credits.
President Donald Trump has long sought to appeal to religious and social conservatives, many of whom were initially wary of the candidacy of a thrice-married Manhattan billionaire who had openly boasted of his sexual conquests and displayed little interest in church or the Christian faith.
At a Values Voter Summit meeting here in October, Trump said he was committed to “stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values” and said the country’s religious heritage would be “cherished, protected and defended like you have never seen before.”
The tax bill seems to deliver on that front. Among the biggest wins for social conservatives is the inclusion of the words “unborn child” in the legislation.
The language is contained in an innocuous provision related to education savings vehicles — so-called 529 plans, which are state-sponsored, tax-free investment funds that allow families to put aside money for a child’s college education. The provision explicitly allows expectant parents to designate a “child in utero” as a beneficiary of a 529 plan.
Parents have long been able to set up 529 accounts for an unborn child, but the provision accomplishes what anti-abortion activists have long sought: It enshrines into federal law the recognition of the unborn.
The bill also contains a sought-after change by the religious right: repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations such as churches from engaging in political activity.
Eliminating it was an early campaign promise of Trump’s, and it has been a cause long championed by religious conservatives.
Other aspects of the bill would make it harder for immigrant parents to claim the refundable child tax credit, even if their children were born in the United States.