Politics
Wednesday September 13, 2006
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
UK Sisters Petition for Same Tax Exemption Rights as Lesbian Couples
By Gudrun Schultz
UNITED KINGDOM, September 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Elderly sisters who have lived together all their lives are challenging the inheritance tax exemption that was granted last year to same-sex couples in civil unions, the Telegraph reported today, saying they should also be able to claim the exemption.
Lawyers for Joyce Burden, 88, and her sister Sybil, 81 argued yesterday before the European Court of Human Rights, claiming the right of tax-free property inheritance for the sisters if one of them should die.
The Burden’s inherited their home from their parents, whom they cared for, along with two aunts, until their deaths. Now they fear losing their home to property tax when one dies.
Under British law, spouses and members of a civil partnership do not have to pay inheritance tax upon the death of a spouse. Siblings, however, are not allowed to register as a civil partnership. The sisters say that is unfair, since they have lived together all their lives.
“I don’t have the status of a lesbian,” Joyce Burden said. “This is an insult to single people who have looked after elderly parents. I don’t call that justice.”
Legal experts told the Telegraph it was unlikely the EU Court would find in favour of the sisters, however.
“The trouble with exempting cohabiting siblings from inheritance tax is where to draw the line,” said Richard Hogwood, from Speechly Bircham. “How long do they have to cohabit for? What about step-siblings, or half siblings?”
“And why not other caring relationships such as an elderly mother and daughter? An exemption only for spouses and civil partners at least has that element of certainty.”
An attempt to extend the exemption to close relatives who had lived together as adults for at least 12 years was overturned by the House of Commons when the Civil Partnership Bill was in debate.
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital Which Was Doing Sterilizations
- Poll Shows a Solid Majority of Canadians Want Legal Protection for Unborn Children
- Interview: Bishop Explains Why a Bishop "Would Consider It a Privilege to Die to End to Abortion"
- Christian-Founded Dating Website eHarmony Forced to Cater to Homosexuals
- Italian Government Must Act Fast to Define Food and Hydration as a Human Right to Save Eluana: Prominent Italian Lawyer
- Brazilian Christian Censored and Fined for Making "Homophobic" Remarks in Book
- Grandmother's Account of Traumatizing Experience with Abortion Moves Jamaican Parliamentarians to Tears
- Bush Pushes Ahead with Regulations to Protect Doctors’ Conscience Rights
- Levant Acquitted after Republishing Letter by Pastor Previously Found to Be “Hate Speech”
- The Death of Catholic Culture and the Election of Barack Obama
- Brazilian Psychologists Prohibited from Helping Catholic Church Screen Out Homosexual Priesthood Candidates
- Letters to the Editor for Friday, November 21, 2008
- US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part III: The Broken Window Strategy
Most Read this Week
- Italian Nuns Refuse to Kill Eluana
- Lawsuits Proliferate Demanding Proof of Obama's Natural-Born Citizenship before Electoral Vote Count
- Christian Prayer Group Sexually and Physically Assaulted by Homosexual Mob
- Vatican Cardinal: "A New World Order is Gaining Ground"
- Mormons, Knights of Columbus Face Chilling Threats and More Vandalism for Prop. 8 Support
- The Coming "War" Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church
- Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital Which Was Doing Sterilizations
- Obama Fortifies Administration with Team of Anti-Life, Anti-family Radicals
- Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wife: I'm "a Catholic in Good Standing" But Also Pro-abortion and Pro-Homosexual
- Martin Luther King's Niece: Obama Election Heals "White Guilt" at the Cost of Life and Family
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.