LE††UCE PREY
State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Greenville) has filed House Bill 2889, which would roll back all property taxes for Texans with ten children. Under Slaton’s bill, married couples with four children, including adopted ones, would receive a 40 percent property tax credit. At ten or more children, the tax credit would be 100 percent. The bill clarifies that the couple must stay married.
“With this bill, Texas will start saying to couples: ‘Get married, stay married, and be fruitful and multiply,’” said Slaton in a press release.
A significant part of modern Christian extremism is large families, sometimes known as the quiverfull movement. The practice is rooted in white supremacy and the idea that white Christians must birth an army of God. As Rick Pidcock put it in Baptist News, “The themes of patriarchy and white supremacy paired with the fear of feminism and non-white people were laying the groundwork for what would be considered the American biblical family.”
In a news release this week, Slaton said his bill intends to lift the state’s falling birth rate by establishing financial incentives for child-rearing. The proposed law is inspired by policies enacted in Poland and Hungary, he said.
Slaton did not directly acknowledge that his bill makes sure to exclude same-sex couples and those who have been divorced and remarried, which the Bible considers to be sins. During this legislative session, Slaton has also introduced bills to bar minors from attending drag performances and classify gender-affirming health care for transgender youth as child abuse under state law.
In June, the Texas Republican Party adopted a platform recognizing homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle choice” and opposing “all efforts to validate transgender identity.”
