As April 15 approaches, my family will be celebrating the unbelievable: paying more taxes. Many straight couples file their taxes under the burden of the “Marriage Penalty” and now same-sex couples — like myself and my wife — find ourselves in the same boat. We will be paying more taxes, and enjoying the resulting equality, with pride.
Last June’s Supreme Court decision declaring Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional will bring some estimated $400,000 in taxes back to the plaintiff Edie Windsor. Same sex couples across the country celebrated this watershed ruling by applying for marriage licenses to take advantage of the more than 1,000 federal benefits to which they are now entitled.
Over the past year, however, same-sex couples have discovered that along with federal benefits come federal obligations. In fact, many same sex couples and their families will be paying more taxes now that their marriages are recognized. When my family files our taxes accounting as a married couple, we will owe the government almost twice as much in taxes as we did when our marriage was not recognized.
Continue reading our Huffington Post blog, Making a Taxing Time Easier, online here.