programs

judicial training

RSVP for the San Diego Cocktail Party Sunday, June 22nd

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Register for the Amsterdam CLE program July 23-25

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Click here to watch panel presentations
from this year's Annual Update

 

RECENT STUDIES
 

The Irish government has announced its intention to enact a civil partnership law that would for the first time offer formal legal recognition to same-sex couples in the Republic of Ireland. The 2006 Irish Census revealed that there were 2,090 same-sex cohabiting couples in the country. Analyses of data from the United States Census Bureau suggest these are not the only couples who might avail themselves of civil partnership:
     • More than 1,200 Irish-born men and women are living with a same-sex partner
        in the United States.
     • They are predominantly female and highly educated. One in seven reports
        raising children.
     • Civil partnership legislation could provide economic benefits to Ireland, enticing
        some of these talented same-sex couples to relocate back to Ireland and
        making the country more competitive in the global creative economy.
 

The Impact on Oregon's Budget of Introducing Same-Sex Domestic Partnerships
By M.V. Lee Badgett, R. Bradley Sears, Elizabeth Kukura, and Holning Lau

February 2008

This analysis by UCLA’s Williams Institute estimates the impact on Oregon’s state budget of same-sex domestic partnerships. Using the best data available, we estimate that allowing same-sex couples to enter domestic partnerships will result in a net gain of approximately $1.5 million to $3.7 million to the State’s biennial budget. This net impact will be the result of savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefit programs and an increase in state income tax revenue.


Census Snapshots
This series of studies written by various Williams Institute researchers provides state-level demographic and economic information about same-sex couples and same-sex couples raising children across the country. 

Eventually, the series will include all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Please click on one of the following states to read the full report: Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Puerto Rico.

The United States.




Unequal Taxes on Equal Benefits:
The Taxation of Domestic Partner Benefits
By M.V. Lee Badgett

December 2007

Employer-provided health insurance is the backbone of health coverage for American families. Most people who have health insurance get it through their own employer or a family member’s employer. Public policy encourages employers to provide health insurance by exempting that form of compensation from taxation. As a result, married workers who get family health insurance benefits get a double benefit—they get health insurance coverage for their spouses and children and are not taxed on the value of that coverage. In sharp contrast, workers who have an unmarried domestic partner are doubly burdened: Their employers typically do not provide coverage for domestic partners; and even when partners are covered, the partner’s coverage is taxed as income to the employee. As a result, the taxation of domestic partner health care benefits sets up a two-tiered tax policy that costs many American families and their employers millions of dollars each year. This report estimates the financial impact of this extra tax on employees and employers.

This study was funded through a generous grant from Merrill Lynch.


 

This analysis estimates the potential impact of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples on Maryland’s state budget. Drawing on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Maryland statistical reports, we estimate that extending marriage rights to same-sex couples would result in a net gain of approximately $3.2 million each year. This net gain is attributable to savings in expenditures on means tested public benefit programs and an increase in sales and lodging tax revenue from weddings and wedding-related tourism.



Geographic Trends Among Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey
 
By Gary J. Gates
 
November 2007
 
With the advent of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), it is no longer necessary to wait every ten years for the decennial census to consider how the numbers of same-sex couples and their geographic distribution might be changing across the country. This research brief analyzes geographic trends among same-sex couples using the 1990 and 2000 United States decennial census enumerations along with data from the 2002 through 2006 American Community Surveys.  Much of the analyses will explore changes in the geographic distribution of same-sex couples at three points in time: 1990, 2000 and 2006.

CURRENT JOB
OPENINGS


DATA POINT
Employees with
domestic partners
pay over $1,000 
more in taxes than
would a married
employee with
the same health
insurance coverage

UPCOMING  EVENTS

RSVP for the Cocktail Party in San Diego,
Sunday, June 22nd


Register for the Amsterdam CLE program in July




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