Yale to provide tax relief for same-sex couples

Yale Daily News ^ | 9 Jan 2012 | Gavan Gideon

[smokingfrog]

Beginning this month, Yale will join the small number of United States colleges and universities that help offset a federal tax gay and lesbian employees pay on health coverage received by their partners.

Though same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, it is not recognized under federal law, so domestic partner health benefits are considered taxable income — levying an additional cost on homosexual couples that those in heterosexual marriages do not face. In a reversal from past years, Yale will now pay both employees with same-sex spouses or in civil unions $1,500 a year to help cover the cost of a federal tax on employer-provided health coverage for domestic partners, Compensation and Benefits Director Hugh Penney said in a Dec. 22 email.

“Because of the increasing discrepancies between the state and federal tax treatment of the health care benefits provided to same-sex marital partners, a number of employers have begun to partially or fully offset the federal tax,” Penney said. “Yale has long been progressive in providing equality of benefits for same-sex couples.”

The new policy brings Yale in line with Columbia University, Syracuse University and Bowdoin College — other schools that help offset the federal tax on domestic partner health coverage. Columbia also decided to implement the tax relief for 2012, and will provide annual reimbursements of $1,000, said Leif Mitchell, co-chair of Yale’s LGBTQ Affinity Group.

[yldstrk]

so cool

[Track9]

Better known as ‘sodomy checks’.

[newheart]

I wonder if they will help out heterosexual couples with tier marriage penalty, or does one have to be homosexual to be the recipient of such largesse?

[WKUHilltopper]

I thought these libtard people believed taxes were just great! So why would they need “relief” from them??

[Stormdog]

So will the students be assessed a new perversion activity fee to fund this?

[ml/nj]

Why is it that I imagine Mr. Buckley spinning in his grave?

ML/NJ

[fella]

So married gays are going to be exempt from the marriage taxes that normal married people pay? Why how fair can you get. Next they'll start getting paid for the number of kids they don't have (at least one a year).