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Wayne Besen
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Should gay people refuse to file Federal Income Tax to protest discrimination? Kevin Boyle and Charles Merrill think so, and they have backed up their conviction by launching a new website, Gay Tax.Org.
"According to the General Accounting Office, there are over 1,049 protections and incentives extended to straight married couples, none of which we get," Merrill told The New York Post. "I'm just doing the same thing that Mahatma Gandhi did in India and the colonists did during the War for Independence."
Merrill and Boyle announced that they would not pay Federal or North Carolina Income Tax on over two million dollars worth of stock sales and income for 2004, because of unfair discrimination in the Federal and State Income Tax Codes.
I think this couple makes a great point when they say this is "taxation without representation." Please check out their site and show your support as they act to fight this injustice.
12 Comments:
Way to go Kevin and Charles. This only makes the matter of marriage equality even more crucial and necessary. Our tax dollars go to support the fruit of hetero marriage, their children, yet the children of gays and lesbians are relegated to second class citizenshp because of their parents same-sex orientation, another compelling reason to enact marriage equality. Its abominable and inhumane. This society should be ashamed of itself, so much for being the champions of freedom of equality, NOT.
I always bring this up when debating with people about same-sex marriage. If we pay the same taxes as you (and often we pay MORE because most of us dont have children), we should be entitled to the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/15/2006 1:59 PM
More power to these guys!!!
I keep saying we should get single parents on our side. Single parents (really the children of single parents) are discriminated against by the tax code in the same way. If you can't claim married filing jointly, you pay more right there. Plus a whole bunch of deductions and credits are out of reach for you because a married couple can make twice as much money and still get them. A married couple with 2 children (family size 4) pays significantly less in taxes than a single parent with 3 children (same family size).
Wasn't it nice of the family values crowd to end the "marriage penalty"?
posted by Anonymous, at
6/15/2006 3:46 PM
Very cool idea. Good to see some courage for a change!!
well done. i have always used this argument when people are only for different sex marriage. if the taxes are discriminating of who is who then people should have the right to protest and gain civil equality.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/15/2006 5:28 PM
I support their efforts.
Perhaps they would have a stronger position if they filed their taxes as though they were married and paid only that tax amount.
But whichever they do, they should put the unpaid tax into an escrow account until their issue is resolved. This takes away the argument that they are just tax evaders.
I strongly support this action - not only have they been paying taxes to help support heterosupremacist policies, but the state and the federal government have no problem visiting them with horrendous indignities over something as silly as riding in a damned ambulance.
As for childrearing, why should gay families be paying more to support the rest of the country? Since Republicans contend that gays should not be allowed to be foster parents or adopt children without providing a single benefit or break to gay couples with children, there is no reason to be paying the government.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/16/2006 12:00 AM
I agree with the premise of what they're doing, but after reading their website, was I the only one here that was a bit turned-off by the "we're so rich, beautiful, wonderful" tone of their biography? I mean, bragging about having slept with many of the most beautiful men and women in the world thing, and all their hob-nobbing with the elite of the world's upper crust, does not generally endear the masses to your cause. I think a little (ok, a lot) less of this would have made a much better statement on their behalf. Anyone else agree?
posted by Anonymous, at
6/16/2006 3:53 PM
They did not write that they were so rich and beautiful, that was an article in the New York Post gossip Page Six. The valuable content of the site, www.gaytax.org is Govenor Howard Dean's support and the various articles on Taxation without Representation and Guerrila Tax Warfare.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/19/2006 8:29 AM
