Just make sure the papers are legit.
Posted on 09/27/2006 9:04:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Schwarzenegger has three days left to decide whether to give a landmark tax victory to gay rights activists -- the right to file as married couples -- but stick them with a tax-filing headache.
The bill, which is among a stack of bills that will become law unless vetoed by Saturday, would require California's 75,000 registered domestic partners to file their state tax returns as if they were legally married -- even though they'd still have to submit single returns to Uncle Sam.
--snip--
``This is hugely symbolic,'' said Jean Johnston, a tax attorney with Johnston/Childress in San Francisco. ``You're an economic unit. It's symbolic of that reality and that the state accepts that reality.''
Many partners would see their state tax bills drop, especially when one partner earns the bulk of the couple's money. But there would be a practical trade-off, experts say. Preparing their taxes and plotting out tax-saving strategies could become trickier than ever because the federal rules remain significantly different.
--snip--
The bill, SB 1827, passed the Legislature in August after acrimonious debates that triggered shouting matches. At one point, Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa, called the measure ``part of the homosexual agenda.'' Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, called his remarks offensive, saying he was ``castigating me and mine.''
The bill would require registered partners to file their California taxes as married couples, though they could choose between filing a joint return or filing separately. They'd no longer file as single or head-of-household taxpayers.
``This is the final piece -- and I'm proud of it,'' said state Sen. Carole Migden, D-S.F., a lesbian legislator who wrote the bill. ``It is a concept that has resonated with people and a fairness issue that the public supports.''
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Basically, the purpose of this bill is to devalue legal marriage if you read between the lines. More of the same...
AB 606 - Safe Place to Learn Act
Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys)
Would require school districts to establish and publicize an antidiscrimination and anti-harassment policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment as specified under current law, including, but not limited to, actual or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation and provides penalties for school districts found to be in violation of that law, including withholding relevant state funding to school districts.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 1056 - Tolerance Education Pilot Program
Assemblymember Chu, D-Monterey Park
Would require the State Board of Education to develop a pilot project integrating intergroup relations and tolerance curriculum into the English and Social Science framework. Would direct the Board of Education to consult with human relations commissions and individuals and groups that are protected by California’s hate crimes legislation. Defines tolerance to mean "attitudes and behaviors that convey respect toward individuals and groups, especially those individuals and groups that have been, and continue to be, systematically and historically marginalized. Tolerance does not mean a passive allowance or indulgence of the beliefs or practices of another individual."
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 1160 - Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act
Assemblymember Sally Lieber (D-San Jose)
Would amend jury instructions to state that the use of societal bias, including so-called "panic strategies," to influence any criminal trial or proceeding is not permitted. It would also appropriate $125,000 to the Office of the Attorney General to develop materials for county prosecutors explaining how panic strategies are used to encourage jurors to respond to societal bias and providing best practices for preventing bias from affecting the outcome of a trial. This legislation is named in the memory of a transgender teenager from Newark, Calif., who was attacked and killed in 2002.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2800 - Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006
Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)
Would standardize various housing-related nondiscrimination provisions in California law to make them consistent with the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex (including gender identity), marital status, sexual orientation, familial status and source of income. AB 2800 is the third bill in a series of nondiscrimination bills authored by Assemblymember Laird to modify major sections of the California Code to specify that people are protected from discrimination regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. (See also AB 2900, Employment: Discrimination, passed in 2004 and AB 1400, The Unruh Civil Rights Act of 2005 signed in November 2005)
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2920 - Older Californians Equality and Protection Act
Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco)
Would amend the Welfare and Institutions Act to add actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as other categories currently protected under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), to the list of factors that the Department of Aging and Area Agencies on Aging consider when assessing the need for state services and planning how to implement them.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 1207 - Code of Fair Campaign Practices
Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D-San Francisco)
Would prohibit the use of any negative appeal based on sexual orientation or gender identity by candidates or campaign committees who sign the voluntary pledge provided for in the Code of Fair Campaign Practices.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2051 - Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Act
Assemblymember Rebecca Cohn (D-Saratoga)
Would establish the Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Fund, a continuously appropriated fund to establish training and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) victims of domestic violence. The fund would support a variety of initiatives, including an educational brochure on LGBT domestic abuse to be distributed along with domestic partnership certificates, grants to support shelters that serve LGBT victims of domestic abuse, and LGBT-specific trainings for law enforcement and domestic violence service providers.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2076 - Drug paraphernalia: clean needle and syringe exchange projects.
Assemblymember Laird, D-Santa Cruz
Would allow state General Funds for HIV prevention to support locally-authorized needle exchange programs and allow such programs to use funds to purchase sterile hypodermic needles and syringes.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2510 - Pupils: survey: harassment
Assembly Member Ted Lieu, D-El Segundo
Requires local education agencies to administer a survey of the experience of pupils with harassment and bullying, including bias-related discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, disability, and actual or perceived gender identity and sexual orientation as specified in current law and require the Attorney General to prepare an annual report based on these surveys.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.SB 1654 - Voting: absentee ballot
Senator Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento
Existing law authorizes eligible voters to vote by absentee ballot and authorizes a county elections official to deliver an absentee ballot to the absent voter's spouse or parent. This bill would additionally authorize delivery of an absentee ballot to the absentee voter's child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or a person residing in the same household as the absent voter, who is 16 years of age or older. This would include any cohabitating domestic partner.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.AB 2386 - Code of Fair Campaign Practices
Assembly Member Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson
Would require the California Secretary of State to post the Code of Fair Campaign Practices on his or her website, along with a list of candidates for state or federal office who have subscribed to the code. The passage of this bill and AB 1207 would allow Californians to know which candidates have agreed to avoid campaign practices that denigrate lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons.
Status: Enrolled. Awaiting Governor's signature.
I don't like it. It does not directly hurt me or anyone I care about though. This is a tax issue.
So what's Arnie gonna do now? This is bad timing for him. He can further alienate his Republican base by letting it become law - not good in an election year. Or he can veto it and alienate the social liberals that he's been pandering to. Decisions, decisions!
But Arnold's a Republican! Surely he'll veto this and put CA back on the road to economic and social conservatism...
Looks like Arnold has a lot of vetoing to do.
I'm single, but I'd get a dog if I thought I call file joint.
if it saves money on taxes then I suspect there will be a lot of "gay couples" coming forward for tax purposes.
Arnie won't even sniff a veto on this. I'm pretty sure he would sponsor it if he could. Do hetero married couples in CA have the same option to file as either joint or separate?
YEP....plus, why can't sisters living together or brothers living together, etc, etc, etc, get the same benefit....it's the destruction of MARRIAGE as we know it. There are CERTAIN benefits to a man and woman being married...for CHILDREN, for their HEALTH, For society, for the perpetuation of humankind.
Any two people could register as partners?
The cost of going with the accountant cost would about offset the tax savings, for those couples with relatively low incomes. One hits the highest marginal tax rate in California quite quickly, and once you do, filing joint returns, saves no money. For those with one relatively high income, and one low, filing separately might save money, or might not. It depends on the numbers. This puppy is about something other than fiscal impact.
The odds are that both work and earn a good income. Heck yeah. Introduce them to the marriage penalty.
Just make sure the papers are legit.
I fail to see why people should pay fewer taxes because they are married or, more importantly, if they have children.
Being single, I find that my taxes are financing the services for all these families who want to put kids out like they're in some fertility contest with the Jonses. Why should I pay more when I take less, while families pay less and take more?
Oh, let's have a national sales tax!
Arnie can sign the bill....then we open up all sorts of possibilities for lessening our tax burden. OK by me.
The attack on families continues....
If the leftist lunatics have their way, pretty soon, a family consisting of a man, a woman, and their children will be a thing of the past.
Filing married/joint return is a higher tax bracket. If both of us could file as head of house which we could do if we were single we would pay less in taxes.
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