The Economic Reality Of The Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
At Pride events in New York City this weekend, the emotional excitement about marriage equality was evident. But many people also were thrilled about the practical considerations.
Colleen Mahoney and her wife Michelle Conklin are New York residents who joined in the celebrations that marked the Supreme Court's ruling. They now have a marriage that is recognized in all 50 states, and they say that will make it easier to take job transfers or retire anywhere.
"We can travel to all 50 states. We can do anything we want anywhere," Mahoney says.
They also feel more comfortable about traveling throughout the country knowing they would be treated as a married couple in any medical emergency.
"We wouldn't be able to possibly even visit one another or be recognized to make the decisions that need to be made for one another. That has been on our mind for a long time, actually, since we were married," Conklin says.
Taxes are another big change.
Janis Cowhey is an accountant for Marcum LLP, a firm that specializes in advising wealthy LGBT clients. She says some same-sex couples living in the 13 states that didn't recognize same-sex marriage would have to file as many as six different tax returns; that included dummy returns just to get numbers for the real returns.
"People who have income from those 13 states, it's a huge change," she says. "It means you just file a married tax return at the federal level and then you file your state returns. It's not this bifurcated system where you've got one filing status for federal purposes and a totally different one for state purposes."
Cowhey says gay couples no longer have to wonder about who's their next of kin or in which state to file for Social Security benefits.
Things also got easier for human resource departments. No longer do companies have to juggle the different and frequently changing marriage laws around the country.
But there's one new complication: what to do with domestic partnership benefits. About three-quarters of U.S. companies created benefit packages for unmarried committed couples, whether gay or straight. But now that all employees have the right to marry, will those benefits disappear?
J.D. Piro, a vice president at HR consulting company Aon Hewitt, says running those domestic-partnership programs isn't cheap.
"It requires a separate administration, separate reporting system and employers they can decide, you know, 'Hey, that's still worth doing because the benefit is valued by our employees.' But some employers might reach the opposite conclusion," he says.
Friday's Supreme Court decision also gave companies another dilemma: what to say about what's still a polarizing subject. Lots of ordinary companies made overtures in support of marriage equality.
"Family isn't defined by who you love, but how," declares Tylenol's latest ad.
Target, General Electric and Goldman Sachs raised the rainbow flag.
David Paisley helps run Community Marketing & Insights, an LGBT market research company. He says the corporate messaging is about both outreach and in-reach.
"Showing support for same-sex marriage is support for their own employees and the issues that they care about," he says. "And for many corporations it's about recruitment, recruiting the best talent to work at their corporations."
There's also the bottom line. Paisley says gay customers are loyal customers and will stay with the company that makes them feel welcome.
Because of last week's ruling, he adds, more companies will probably start outreach programs as the gay community becomes more mainstream.
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Transcript
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
The Supreme Court's marriage decision will have an impact on the personal finances of many same-sex households and on corporations. From member station WSHU, Charles Lane reports on the economic ripple effects of nationwide same-sex marriages.
CHARLES LANE, BYLINE: At Pride events in New York City this weekend, the emotional excitement about marriage equality was evident. But many people were also thrilled about the practical considerations.
COLLEEN MAHONEY: You know, like, we can travel to all 50 states (laughter). We can do anything we want, anywhere. (Laughter).
LANE: Colleen Mahoney and her wife, Michelle Conklin, are New York residents who joined in the celebrations that marked the Supreme Court's ruling. They now have a marriage that is recognized in all 50 states, and they say that will make it easier to take job transfers or retire anywhere. They also feel more comfortable about traveling throughout the country knowing they will be treated as a married couple in any medical emergency.
MICHELLE CONKLIN: We wouldn't be able to possibly even visit one another or be recognized...
MAHONEY: To make decisions...
CONKLIN: ...To make the decisions that need to be made for one another. And so that has been on our mind for a long time, actually, since we were married.
LANE: Taxes are another big change. Janis Cowhey is an accountant for Marcum LLP, a firm that specializes in advising wealthy LGBT clients. She says same-sex couples living in the 13 states that didn't recognize their marriage would have to file as many as six different returns that included dummy returns just to get the numbers for the real returns.
JANIS COWHEY: And for those people who have income from those 13 states, it's a huge change. It means you just file a married tax return at the federal level and then you file your state returns. It's not this bifurcated system where you're filing - you've got one filing status for federal purposes and a totally different one for state purposes.
LANE: Cowhey says now gay couples no longer have to wonder about who's their next of kin or in which state to file for Social Security benefits. Things also got easier for human resource departments. No longer do companies have to juggle the different and frequently-changing marriage laws around the country, but there's one new complication - what to do with domestic partnership benefits. About three-quarters of U.S. companies created benefit packages for unmarried committed couples, whether gay or straight. But now that all employees have the right to marry, will those benefits disappear? J.D. Piro is a vice president at Aon Hewitt, an HR consulting company. He says running those domestic-partnership programs isn't cheap.
J.D. PIRO: It requires a separate administration, separate reporting system. And employers, you know, they can decide, you know, hey, that's still worth doing because the benefit is valued by our employees. But some employers might reach the opposite conclusion.
LANE: Friday's Supreme Court decision also gave companies another dilemma - what to say about what's still a polarizing subject. Lots of ordinary companies made overtures in support of marriage equality.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Family isn't defined by who you love, but how - Tylenol.
LANE: Target, General Electric, even Goldman Sachs raised the rainbow flag. David Paisley helps run Community Marketing & Insights, an LGBT market research company. He says the messaging is about both outreach and in-reach.
DAVID PAISLEY: Showing support for same-sex marriage is support for their own employees on the issues that they care about. And for many corporations, it's about recruitment - recruiting the best talent to work at their corporations.
LANE: It's also the bottom line. Paisley says gay customers are loyal customers and will stay with the company that makes them feel welcome. He adds that because of last week's ruling, more companies will probably start outreach programs as the gay community becomes more mainstream. For NPR News, I'm Charles Lane. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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