Thursday, November 04, 2010

The Gay Tax

If you follow Adventures By Aaron, you know that he and his partner, who is a new FSO, are having a headache trying to take their car overseas. Long story short, they are having to refinance the car with USAA, who will let them take the car overseas, because Wells Fargo wasn't willing to work the issue out because Aaron "isn't the employee."

So now they just needed to get the car registered in Florida and they would be on their way. Easy, right?

Nope...after he had registered the car and was on his way back to the airport to come home, he got a call that he had to come back and pay a tax or his registration would be cancelled.

Aaron writes:
"The issue required phone calls to Wells Fargo and USAA to resolve. The clerk hadn't realized that I was refinancing with a different bank, and she needed to find out the pay-off amount so that she could charge me sales tax. In the end, I had to pay $300 more than originally quoted.

Why, you ask?

Because I am gay.

When a married couple refinances a loan, they are not taxed.

When a gay couple refinances a loan, they are taxed. Because they are not married. Despite the fact that they would likely be quite HAPPY to do so, given the chance.

When a straight, single person refinances a loan, he/she is taxed.

So basically, what I learned yesterday was that, in the eyes of the Florida government, my 7-year relationship is worth no more than being single."

You can see the whole post here.

Just one of the many ways people, even those serving the country, get punished for being gay. One more way we are not full citizens.

Explain to me again why his relationship and mine are worth less than someone who meets and marries a stranger in Vegas?

2 comments:

Aaron said...

And as ridiculous as all of that already sounds, it looks like it STILL won't be enough as far as the shipping company is concerned. More on that as it develops...

Unknown said...

That is exactly what I try to explain to my straight folk when I defend same sex marriage. It's not just about the church or the ceremony, it is about that rights that come with a marriage. I am not sure if "rights" is the correct word. But I hope you know what I mean.