The City of San Francisco is
considering a proposal which would compensate gay workers receiving
domestic partner benefits for the extra tax they pay.
Employer-provided health benefits
offered to the partners of gay workers are counted as taxable income
by the IRS (unless the partner is considered a dependent). Such
benefits are not considered taxable income for married heterosexual
employees.
On
Wednesday, the Budget and Finance Committee of the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the proposed ordinance to
the full Board of Supervisors. If approved, San Francisco would
become the largest city to date to institute such a policy.
At least 38 companies, including Google
and Facebook, and at least two cities, Cambridge,
Massachusetts and Hallandale Beach, Florida, have recently
adopted similar policies for their employees.
A report released in 2007 by M. V. Lee
Badgett, research director at the Williams Institute, found that gay
employees with partners pay, on average, $1,069 per year more in
taxes than would a married employee with the same coverage.