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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Michigan lawmakers hear out fetal income tax exemption
Rep. Gina Johnsen (R-Odessa Township) speaks at a House Education Committee meeting at Sterling Heights High School on March 11, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols) Michigan lawmakers discussed the mechanics of a tax exemption that would put fetuses on par with children when claiming dependents on taxes. House Bill 4202 would allow individuals who have a physician's verification that they are at least 10 weeks pregnant by the end of the tax year to claim their fetus as a dependent. It's a straightforward 'pro-family' bill, the bill's sponsor Rep. Gina Johnsen (R-Lake Orion) told members of the state House Finance committee Tuesday. Johnsen said the bill would work to recognize the financial responsibilities that residents endure during pregnancy and promote growth in the state economy as families are incentivized to grow. 'This bill does not create a new entitlement. It does not expand government bureaucracy, and it does not affect Michigan's legal definitions related to personhood or abortion. It simply applies the same logic and fairness we already use for children born or lost late in the year to a pregnancy that is ongoing under medical care,' Johnsen said. 'This is a modest but meaningful bill that gives expecting mothers an added measure of support without creating a new program or imposing additional burdens on the state.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Though bills to offer tax relief during pregnancy can sound like a positive thing for residents, it's a common undercover tactic for state-level attempts to establish 'fetal personhood' in order to chip away at abortion rights, Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in a memo at the start of last year. Other 'fetal personhood' bills can look like efforts to allow pregnant people to pursue child support after conception and separate criminal and civil penalties for death of fetuses, placing the same level of personhood on fetuses as children. 'Legislative tactics and messaging of the fetal personhood movement may change, but the goal is the same — to control people's bodies, limit their health care choices, and criminalize people for having abortions,' Planned Parenthood Action Fund's memo says. 'These laws are not about supporting pregnant people…Instead, they are purposefully sowing confusion and slowly chipping away at people's rights to make reproductive health decisions.' Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) inquired if there was room to adjust the minimum weeks required under the exemption noting that under the bill's rules a person could claim the tax exemption at the end of the year and promptly terminate the pregnancy in the 11th week of pregnancy or beyond. Johnsen noted that the 10 week minimum was already a compromise. About 93% of all abortions in the U.S. are initiated within the first trimester, or 13 weeks of pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi) said she had some reservations on the bill but would be interested in seeing it tie-barred to only pass if the 'Momnibus' package, addressing disproportionate maternal mortality for moms of color, also passes the Legislature. Breen proposed an amendment to tie-bar the bills, though it was voted down by Republican committee members. 'Thank you to the sponsor for recognizing the need for additional supports for pregnant women and working moms…There's a lot of good that could come from the 'Momnibus' package, and that's why I've asked for this amendment to tie bar your bill to it,' Breen said before the vote on her amendment.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
More than 1,100 anti-Trump demonstrations planned in all 50 states this Saturday
More than 1,100 'Hands Off!' protests and meetings are planned in nationwide demonstrations across all 50 states on Saturday in what organizers say are a response to the dramatic cuts to the federal workforce overseen by Trump adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 'Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them,' the organizers say on their website. 'They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them.' Citing what they see as President Trump's moves to gut services, including the eventual 'slashing' of Social Security and Medicaid, a coalition of more than 150 organizations — including Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Service Employees International Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters and Greenpeace — will take part in Saturday's demonstrations. 'Nearly 100 days in, President Donald Trump has kept his promises to go after his enemies, but not in order to help Americans. With Elon Musk at his side, he's attacking the foundations of opportunity: public education, healthcare, collective bargaining and Social Security,' the American Federation of Teachers wrote in a Facebook post. 'This Saturday, April 5, we're joining thousands nationwide to say: Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our public schools. Hands off our jobs.' Trump and Musk have said that the job cuts are needed to address the growing national debt and balance the federal budget. "The country is going bankrupt. A country is no different from a person. If a country overspends and doesn't spend wisely, just like a person, a country will go bankrupt," Musk said in an interview with Fox News Business in March. While mass protests are planned in big cities and small towns across the country, the largest could take place in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators will gather on the National Mall. 'Parking will be limited due to crowd size and location. Attendees are encouraged to take public transit to the National Mall,' organizers said in an email. The White House Spring Garden Tours that had been scheduled for Saturday were postponed by a day 'out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of all within proximity to public demonstrations planned near the White House,' the Office of the First Lady said in a Thursday press release. Protest organizers said on their website that a 'core principle' of the demonstrations was 'a commitment to nonviolent action,' and held a training session on how to de-escalate tensions with police and counterprotesters. As of March 29, over 250,000 people had RSVP'd on the 'Hands Off!' website that they planned to attend demonstrations. In Florida alone, there are 45 demonstrations planned, including some near Trump's residence and private golf club in Palm Beach, the Florida Times-Union reported. A protest movement against Trump and Musk has been building in recent weeks. On March 29, so-called 'Tesla Takedown' demonstrations were held at hundreds of Tesla dealerships across the country. Since then, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey delivered the longest speech in Senate history, urging Americans to respond to Trump's policies by engaging in what former civil rights icon John Lewis called 'good trouble.' While he may not join the 'Hands Off!' demonstrations on Saturday, former Vice President Mike Pence did offer his own form of protest to Trump's tariffs on Thursday. 'The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,' Pence wrote in a post on X. 'These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year.'
