Today’s New York Times has a ground-breaking examination of the costs of being a same sex couple. As “The High Price of Being a Gay Couple,” begins, let me also state that the fight for marriage equality is a fight for civil rights, and for what’s right, not a fight for financial gain. But The Times puts it best: “we see the world through the prism of money.”
Bottom line, the Times created a hypothetical couple’s cost of “being a gay couple,” and determined that over the lifetime of their relationship, it would cost them up to $467,562 more as a same sex couple than as a straight couple. “Best case” scenario would cost them an additional $41,196.
Ironically, the same sex couple would pay less in income taxes: about $15,000 to $112,000 less. But that doesn’t outweigh the other costs of being a gay couple.
Not unsurprisingly, health insurance is the greatest cost factor. The same sex couple will pay approximately $28,000 to $212,000 more, just for being gay.
The Times piece neglects to specifically mention the elephant in the room: thanks to DOMA, The Defense of Marriage Act, there are 1138 federal benefits afforded to straight married couples, that same sex couples are prohibited from accessing.
And only slightly does “The High Price of Being a Gay Couple” mention the emotional c0sts, which are many. But it does include this:
“As for the emotional costs of living with these added complexities, they can’t be quantified. Frederick Hertz, a lawyer in Oakland, Calif., who works with same-sex couples, likens heterosexual marriage to being in the car pool lane. “Being part of a same-sex couple, it’s always stop. Wait. Pay a toll,” he said.”
Overall, however, it’s an excellent piece, long overdue, and we’re grateful The Times took on such a large and important task.
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"Ironically, the same sex couple would pay less in income taxes: about $15,000 to $112,000 less. But that doesn’t outweigh the other costs of being a gay couple."
Sadly, this article oversimplifies this issue, almost to the point of doing us more harm than good.
How many couples do you know in real life where both individuals make the same amount of money? Be honest! I know we don't – not by a long shot!
As a result of this, over the past 12 years, my husband and I have paid, literally, thousands of dollars every year MORE in taxes compared to what a similarly situated opposite-sex couple would in income taxes. Now, since we live in California, we have been lucky to pay less on State taxes even before we were able to legally wed in the State last year because our Domestic Partnership was recognized for tax purposes starting back in 2006, but still we have been paying on average at least 25% more in taxes than we should for a long, long time now. This does not even begin to touch on the issue of taxation on "Domestic Partner" benefits through employers that is tacked on top of everything else, back when I was employed rather than owning my own business.
The article also ignores completely the taxation issues regarding a married small business owners. As it stands right now, married small business owners have unique rights to file their taxes and share the tax burden for a sole proprietorship as a couple – rights that are completely denied to same sex couples thanks to DOMA. DOMA also rears its ugly head with many implications on the business side, such as denying business loans that would be granted to a married couple but are not to a single person, denying credit for single vs joint applications, etc.
Yes, the fight for marriage equality is about civil rights, not financial gain. However, part of being treated equally is NOT having to pay a penalty simply for being who and what you are. As it stands right now, we are paying a very hefty "gay tax" and being legally discriminated against in business – all because we either cannot get married, or our marriages are not being recognized. In the end, it's all about equality, one way or another.
i am gay at the age of 16 and that is ok
i am gay at the age of 11
i am gay at the age of 18
i am a girl at the age of 11 looking for a girl that is just so hot it might be you lora
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