Employer coalition seeks benefits tax equity for domestic partners

[kweerwolf]

Some of the nation's largest and best-known employers want to give gay and lesbian couples the same tax breaks married couples enjoy in purchasing health insurance.
General Mills, Microsoft, and Nike Inc. are among the firms that have joined the Business Coalition for Benefits Tax Equity, organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign.

"The coalition is growing pretty quickly," says Daryl Herrschaft, director of the HRC Workplace Project. "In June we had six members, and now we're up to 14."

Members support legislation introduced in June by Senators Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would not only exclude the value of domestic partner health coverage from an employee's taxable income, but also relieve workers and their employers from related payroll taxes. Called the Domestic Partner Health Benefits Equity Act (S. 1360), the bill sits in the Senate Finance Committee for review. No companion bill exists in the House of Representatives.

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