The City of Miami Beach is expected to
become the third Florida municipality to agree to compensate gay
workers receiving domestic partner benefits for the extra tax they
pay. On Wednesday, the City Commission gave an initial nod to a
proposed ordinance.
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.
The ordinance sponsored by Commissioner
Michael Gongora was unanimously approved on first reading. A
friendly amendment submitted by Commissioner Jerry Libbin makes the
ordinance effective immediately, instead of next fiscal year, as
originally proposed.
A final vote is scheduled for
Wednesday, June 5.
“The Tax Equity Program, mostly
affecting gay and lesbian employees but not to the exclusion of
heterosexual employees, will reimburse city employees who are in a
domestic partnerships and are being taxed on the payments they make
on their health insurance benefits, unlike heterosexual married
couples,” C.J. Ortuno, a member of the Miami Beach Human Rights
Committee, which backed the measure, and the executive director of
SAVE
Dade, wrote in an email to supporters.