While the core value of the fight for marriage equality is about the right to marry the person you love, the legal commitments that come with this right are very real to the hundreds of thousands of loving couples who are currently being discriminated against under federal law. According to the General Accounting Office, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) restricts same-sex couples from accessing the benefits, rights and privileges housed in 1,138 federal statutory provisions.
To marry, a same-sex couple must travel to a state where it is legal — the closest of which, for Georgia couples, is Maryland, 700 miles away. If the couple lives in Georgia or any other state that doesn’t recognize marriage equality, they could spend up to $10,000 in legal fees to establish some of the rights that come with a civil marriage license.
Once the couple is married, discrimination continues. If an individual wants to add his or her same-sex spouse to their employer-provided health insurance plan, that additional coverage is not tax-exempt as it would be for an opposite-sex couple. Instead, these benefits are treated as though they were additional wages, adding a tax burden that averages more than $1,000 per couple per year.
As a result of DOMA and IRS regulations, same-sex couples must navigate a maze of tax laws other couples do not. When a legally married same-sex couple files their tax returns each year, the burden of filing for that couple is heavier than for their opposite-sex friends and actually requires them to lie on their federal tax forms.
For example, a same-sex couple who was wed and lives in Vermont, a state where their union is legally recognized, must file their federal returns individually and their state return jointly. However, in order to properly file a joint state return, they must also complete a dummy joint federal return. To file a federal return, they must lie and state that they are single. They are also ineligible for certain tax benefits and claims specific to marriage.
Another important tax issue that faces same-sex couples is the one at the heart of the DOMA case. When a person dies, that person’s assets are transferred to the spouse without being subjected to the estate tax. When the couple is the same sex, as was the case with Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, the surviving spouse is hit with an estate tax for the transfer of assets. In Windsor’s case, the tax was $363,000 — a fine she was forced to pay to stay in the home she shared with her wife formore than 40 years.
The term “marriage” certainly has emotional and religious connotations for many people. Under DOMA, it has significant legal ramifications. The U.S. Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. These denied benefits make it clear that DOMA is outdated, unfair and unconstitutional.
