While taxes are never a particular joy, some people have injustice inherent in their taxes. We all know how this country is hurting the poor with regressive taxes, but I think the homophobia in our tax structure is largely unknown.
Conservatives gripe about the 'marriage penalty,’ which affects a very small number of people who could find ways to work around it. However, there are massive major benefits as well. This year, I have to pay taxes on $6,899.48 of "income" for the market value of the health insurance my domestic partner and his kids received last year.
I’m straight. If I have to pay this non-marriage penalty, so be it. (Although, I find it crazy that we would tax health care for anyone in this country!) However, my now-ex-boyfriend and I had other alternatives. We were smart enough to know that we wouldn’t have been a good married couple, and this is much less than the cost of a divorce. So we’ll suck it up and deal.
But my gay and lesbians friends, some of whom have been in relationships for decades, don’t have other options. And with all the talk about the need for a federal marriage that recognizes all, I’m not hearing discussion about the tax issues.
Forcing some people to pay taxes (and penalties--I wasn’t on the ball and didn’t realize how much they would be reporting the insurance cost as, and I didn’t file quarterly forms and prepay the taxes on this health insurance) on benefits that other people get for free is clear discrimination. Again, fine for me and my ex, but totally unacceptable for people who didn’t have other choices.
I think sometimes we put gay marriage on the back burner. It seems like a ‘feel-good’ issue that would be nice, but isn’t worth losing elections over. But where do we end the compromises? Maybe a woman’s right to choose isn’t really worth losing elections over either? And social justice? Well, there are some poor people out there who’ve made mistakes, so maybe that isn’t worth fighting for either.
Furthermore, I’m not at all sure that we would lose elections over this issue. I know middle-America is squeamish, but I think this issue of health insurance is one that would play very well in the Midwest, and I never heard about it until it affected me.
We all know that marriage bestows a ton of benefits, from immigration to hospital visits. It also instills a ton of financial benefits. If we have the 'pursuit of happiness' as part of our rights in this country, we need to realize that for everyone.