Wanted: Tax Credit for Gay Couples!

Okay, that's it. I've joked about it before but now I think this idea should get discussed. Gay and lesbian couples who live together really need a tax credit to compensate them for the high and unjust cost of not being able to get married. Why? They pay their fair share of taxes to fund 1,000+ federal marriage rights and over 300+ state marriage rights (in most states still) for heterosexual couples, and then have to pay extra costs associated with not having those rights themselves.

According to the New York Times, the lifetime cost of being gay is between $41,000 and $468,000, depending on an individual couple's circumstances. Key cost factors include the following:

* The number of children
* Health insurance coverage
* Social Security payments
* Estate or inheritance taxes
* Spousal IRA's
* Pension plans
* Tax preparation fees
* The costs of the extra legal paperwork (to replicate marital rights)

Each year, the gay couple could tally up the expenses they had that they would not have had to pay if they were allowed to legally wed. I'm sure the IRS could create a nice form for it, though it would be on the long side.

Does giving a gay couple a tax credit sound complicated? It is! But there is a simple solution: allows committed gay couples to marry. Plain and simple.