By James Tillman
SACRAMENTO, California, June 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The IRS has released a memorandum stating that Californian registered domestic partners (RDPs), the great majority of whom are homosexual couples, must average their incomes and each report this averaged amount on their separately filed tax returns.
This ruling gives homosexual couples a tax break similar to that given to married couples and even means that (according to one analysis) that under some circumstances homosexual RDPs will pay less income tax than would heterosexual married couples with the same income.
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage to be only between a man and a woman, prevents RDPs from filing jointly as if they were married. A series of homosexualist California laws, however, have resulted in the current situation.
The category of “domestic partnership” was established by the California Domestic Partnership Act of 1999; only same-sex “couples” and opposite-sex couples over the age of 62 may become domestic partners. Although few rights were granted to domestic partners at first, subsequent legislation expanded the number of rights of such a partnership until it began to resemble marriage.
The 2003 California Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act (DPRR) established that RDPs will have nearly the same duties and rights as spouses do. It stated, however, that income earned by such couples may not be treated as community property for state income tax purposes.
The “State Income Tax Equity Act” of 2006, however, says that although domestic partners must file their federal tax returns as single individuals, they must also treat their income as community property for state income tax purposes.
The IRS memorandum says clearly that “the earned income of a registered domestic partner must be treated as community property for state income tax purposes,” unless the RDPs agree to opt out of such treatment.
The same applies to federal income tax returns.
Some are criticizing the ruling, saying that it violates DOMA. According to the Wall Street Journal, tax expert David Herzig said that DOMA means that the IRS should not recognize homosexual unions, no matter what state law might be.
“We shouldn't be picking and choosing where these rules apply,” he said.
The tax analysis website Fairmark.com pointed out that the ruling may give homosexual couples something better than equality under certain circumstances. Although sometimes homosexual couples might pay more than if they filed jointly, it states that more often “gay couples with joint income above $230,000 or so will pay less total tax than if they filed jointly [as do married couples].”
“If the IRS ruling stands,” it continued, “some gay couples will be subject to lower federal tax rates than heterosexual couples with the same income and deductions, until such time as federal law changes to require joint filing by couples in a gay union.”