House Bill Has Benefits for Gay Couples and Domestic Partners

[liberalpragmatist]

I was not aware of this provision, but good on House Democrats for including this. I hope this provision survives conference committee and winds up in the final bill.

WASHINGTON — Lower taxes for gay couples who receive health benefits from employers. Nutrition labeling requirements for snack food sold in vending machines and many restaurants. A new program to teach parents how to interact with their children.

<snip>

Supporters of gay rights have long been trying to change the tax treatment of health benefits provided by employers to the domestic partners of their employees. In effect, such benefits are now treated as taxable income for the employee, and the employer may owe payroll taxes on their fair-market value.

Under the bill, such benefits would be tax-free, just like health benefits provided to the family of an employee married to a person of the opposite sex.

Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, who proposed the change, said it would “correct a longstanding injustice, end a blatant inequity in the tax code and help make health care coverage more affordable for more Americans.”

<snip>

M. V. Lee Badgett, a labor economist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said employees with domestic partner benefits paid $1,100 a year more in taxes, on average, than married employees with the same coverage.

MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/health/policy/08benefits.html?_r=1&hp

[pinto]

1. Kick

:kick:

[donheld]

2. k & R

[Bluebear]

3. Many thanks to Rep. McDermott for making this happen