Indiana Senate committee chair halts bill claiming fetus as income tax dependent

UPDATE: During a Senate tax committee hearing for Senate Bill 98 Tuesday, chair Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said the bill would not move forward this legislative session. He said he decided to hear the bill to give Sen. Andy Zay, R-Huntington, an opportunity to "flesh it out."Zay answered a few questions about how the bill would work logistically and whether a mother who miscarries can still claim the fetus.The chair then took testimony. About half a dozen people testified, some voicing support for and some against the bill.

Original story: An Indiana lawmaker is revisiting an idea he pitched last year in the wake of the state's new abortion ban: Allow pregnant mothers to claim their fetuses as dependents on their tax returns.

Indiana would be only the second state, behind Georgia, to enact such a measure if Republican Sen. Andy Zay's Senate Bill 98 comes to fruition.

About 60,000 Hoosier mothers would be able to do this in a given tax year, resulting in a roughly $4.5 million hit to the state's annual income tax revenue, the Legislative Services Agency estimates. That's roughly the number of births expected to happen between January and September, indicating pregnancies that started during the previous tax year.

Zay, of Huntington, views the measure as a way to both support pregnant mothers financially and to incentivize them to get prenatal care. To get the tax exemption, a parent would have to submit proof of their pregnancy ― the ultrasound from their doctor's visit ― along with their tax return.

"It's one thing to be pro-life, it's another thing to support mothers," Zay said. "In my mind, this is an extension of that."

A similar bill passed the Wisconsin Senate in November but went no further. Another stalled in the Arizona House in early 2023. In 2022, after Georgia's six-week abortion ban went into effect following the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, the state's department of revenue changed the tax code to qualify an "unborn child" as a dependent.

Georgia's new abortion law goes further than other states in terms of the question of personhood, explicitly defining a fetus as a person.

Current Indiana law defines a "fetus" as "an unborn child, irrespective of gestational age or the duration of the pregnancy."

Zay's bill is likely to get a hearing this year, though the financial impact could cause it to stall, since it's not a budget session.

There are some challenging questions and technicalities Zay hopes to work through during the hearing process: How can this be abused? Can you claim two exemptions for twins? What happens if a woman later has a miscarriage?

On that last question, Zay said he would lean toward granting the exemption anyway.

"I don't think we should spend too much time splitting hairs on that," he said.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.