Texas Going "Full Japan"

When we say "we can't tell if this is a spiteful bill" we are referring to other legislation that has been put in place to prove the inefficiency of other legislation in place in other states. For example, California's gun law that mirrors the language of an abortion law passed in some other states. Not familiar with that? Check out the blog post we wrote covering the newest California gun law, what it covers, and some of the cases that have been opened because of it.

That being said, we wouldn't be surprised if this bill in Texas was in response to something else, but so far, we have not been able to find evidence of it. Even so, this bill is quite interesting and we're curious to see what happens when/if it is passed. The bill, H.B. 2889 if you're interested in reading it for yourself, is a property tax credit bill aimed at married couples who have never been divorced who have four or more children. The bill would not apply to blended families, same sex marriages (it specifies that the children must be "natural children of both married persons"), single parent homes, nor marriages where one or both of the parents have been divorced.

The purpose of the bill, per the Texas representative who is leading the bill, has claimed that the bill is a clear statement to Texas families to "get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply." Which implies that it's an attempt to get Texans to go "full Japan" and increase birth rates. When you take into consideration that the national average number of children per household has dropped from 2.3 to 1.9, this bill really does appear to be an attempt to boost birth rates, at least in the state of Texas. The best part is that if you own property in Texas and your family meets the minimum qualifications, you're looking at a 40% property tax reduction that does go up to 100% if you have 10 kids. That's right, it's a 10% increase in property tax reduction per child.

What has the reception for this bill been like? Mixed. For every positive response, there's been a negative response it seems. While some are in support of reinforcing the idea of the nuclear family, others are criticizing the bill for a variety of reasons. Some who have clearly not read the 1980s novel have referenced this bill as "something out of Handmaid's Tale" because it "fails to recognize" Texas's high maternal mortality rate. To be clear, it would not eradicate current property tax breaks; it would simply be something in addition to what is currently in place. And while the bill is not forcing anyone to have children, it is worth mentioning that Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws and Medicaid coverage for new moms, so it is not exactly supportive of single parents nor women who do not have the support of a partner.

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