As married, heterosexual couples across America pull out their tax forms in the last minute rush to file by April 14th at seconds before midnight, same-sex couples are slapped in the face one more time with their second-class citizenship.
No one enjoys tax time in this country. We have a long, complicated and intricate tax code that requires a degree to fully understand. What form do you use? Which box do you check? What are legal deductions and can you count the gift to your mailman as a charitable contribution?
"Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes," Benjamin Franklin famously said.
For same-sex couples, however, there is an additional layer not only of confusion but also of denied rights. Are we married or aren't we? I live in Massachusetts. I'm married but only in this state. I must file separately to the federal government. On the federal form, do we divide the dependents between us? Do I get two of the kids and my wife one? Or does it make sense for her to claim all three? Who gets the mortgage interest deduction?
It was easy for Franklin to be so certain. He wasn't a gay man married in Massachusetts in the last four years.
HRC has launched a campaign, "7 Days to A Better Financial You," to highlight the "significant financial burdens and legal hurdles" for same-sex couples and their families. Our social security benefits are not transferable. Life insurance must be carefully designed. Inheritance of any kind is out of the question without a significant tax burden.
The list goes on and on. Same-sex couples are urged to get sound tax and legal advice. Julie Goodridge, of NorthStar Asset Management, Inc. a firm that balances clients' social and political concerns with their financial objectives, advises her same-sex clients to be prepared on as many levels as possible. "Gay and Lesbian couples need elaborate documentation around their relationships and children- health care proxies, powers of attorney- in order to ensure basic financial health. Even in Massachusetts."
Heterosexuals get to say, "I do." All done. No additional legal work required, if a spouse dies, everything is transferred without tax or question. You check the "married" box. The government definition of their marriage is powerful insurance.
How many people filing the basic 1040E tax form have the resources and financial ability to hire a LGBT issue savvy attorney, consult a tax accountant, and write up a series of documents? How many people understand the new provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006? Or how to offset the tax burden of domestic partner health insurance?
Goodridge adds, "There are significant additional costs in planning for estates and even then there are no guarantees their family of origin will not legally challenge their final wishes."
Great. After spending a bunch of additional dollars, you still might end up buried next to Aunt Martha and your partner thrown out of the home you bought together.
I'm not talking about a revolution. I'm not trying to give reason for a swarm of locusts to descend. I'm married, I live in Massachusetts and I want to file my taxes.
Sometime before midnight on April 14th.
Quit whining lady, you think you have it bad.
I think it's time for...
STRAIGHT BACHELOR RIGHTS!
Clinton - well, at least she is making some direct effort to reach out to the community although her stance on same-sex marriage is less clear to me. She is from the DOMA crowd. And, neither one has done a thing about ENDA.
I say same-sex couples should start looking for ways to benefit financially from their status.
The problem with HSAs is that, even if your employer allows for domestic partner coverage, that domestic partners can NOT access the employee's HSA account to cover any deductible-eligible medical treatment because those funds are by law pre-tax, and all domestic partner health benefits (premiums, deductibles, etc) must be paid with post-tax dollars because the federal government does not recognize the relationship, and certainly not for tax treatment purposes.
I don't have any suggested solutions to this problem (unless you have a doctor's office willing to look the other way and are willing to take the risk involved in paying for your domestic partner's medical costs with your HSA) just thought I would add it to the laundry list of taxation issues facing gay couples.
Full disclosure: I am a lesbian, have been with my partner for 15 years, I work in pension consulting so I am one of the rare individuals who understands PPA-2006, and I am very familiar with the loopholes that we as gays may *try* to exercise in order to try the make the tax reporting process slightly less discriminatory.
Health Spending Accounts. I hate them. Not only are they an administrative nightmare for anyone (gay, straight, whatever) trying to use them, they are just yet another financial "tool" that completely financially discriminates against non-married (particularly gay) couples. If anyone reading this is not familiar with HSAs, mark my words, you will be. Barring a health care overhaul in this country, HSAs will be the plans of the future as both employers and insurers attempt to shift more and more of the burden onto the consumer. "Consumer directed healthcare" is a term often applied to HSA Plans, but basically it means that you are "redirected" into a high-deductible Plan (the deductible of which is usually in the $1500-$5000 range a year) with generally no reduction in premiums, and the burden of this deductible is now paid for by the plan participant(s) in the form of HSAs, which are just accounts that participants contribution their own pre-tax money to in order to meet their deductible costs year to year.
States Rights over Federal Rights, anybody?