A taxing situation

At last counting (2003), there were 1,138 federal laws that provide benefits, rights and privileges based on marital status. This is from a report by the General Accounting Office, developed at the request of then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. 

Twenty-three of these laws are found in the Internal Revenue Code. I was blissfully unaware of the effect of these particular statutes for the first 16 years of my marriage until 2007 when the Great State of California started requiring Registered Domestic Partners to file a joint state income tax return.

You know the drill: you do your federal taxes first, and then use those numbers to jump-start your state return, right? Well, Iris and I don't file a joint federal return, because the federal government doesn't recognize our marriage. So now, in order to file our state taxes, we have to create a fake joint federal income tax return first.

This is a major pain in the butt--double entry times two. On top of that, when we get done with process, we are faced with concrete evidence of the genuine financial privilege given to heterosexual couples by the federal income tax laws. It makes completing our income taxes an annual walk through Discrimination Park.

Here's what I mean. In 2008, if our marriage were recognized by the federal government, we would have received a refund of $1269. Instead, together we paid in $599 in additional federal taxes. This year, if our marriage were recognized by the federal government, we would be receiving a $1599 refund. Instead, together we will be getting a refund of $1316.

In other words, we pay more taxes than heterosexual married couples. This is not fair, and it's not right. Here's the sad thing: I'm a cornball Midwestern girl who used to feel kind of patriotic about paying taxes. Now, it just makes me cry.