\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: Lauren Biehl
\[[[mailto:lbiehl@matrixgroup.net]{.underline}](mailto:lbiehl@matrixgroup.net)\]

Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 2:25 PM

To: comments

Cc: field@hrc.org

Subject: Tax Code Changes

Please see attached word document regarding my issues with the current
tax code for same-sex partners.

Lauren

\--

Lauren Biehl

Director of Administration

Matrix Group International, Inc.

1033 N. Fairfax Street, 2nd Floor

Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (703) 838-9777 x3017

Fax: (703) 838-9799

E-Mail: Lbiehl@matrixgroup.net

URL:
[[http://www.matrixgroup.net]{.underline}](http://www.matrixgroup.net/)

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March 14, 2005

The President\'s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform\
1440 New York Avenue NW Suite 2100\
Washington, DC 20220

Dear President;

I am writing you, as I am concerned about the tax laws and how they
affect my wife and myself. We are not allowed to take part in any of the
tax benefits given to heterosexual married couples and in this day and
age I find this appalling. We pay taxes just like everyone else but we
are not afforded the same benefits, if the president wants to make the
tax code better for everyone. Then he/you need to consider same-sex
partners as well. Listed below are some of the issues we have to face
not being allowed to have the same tax benefits that married couples
have. Please remember we are tax paying citizens as well as everyone
else. Do not discriminate against us.

**Adverse Tax Consequences for Same-Sex Couples**

1.  **Health Insurance for Partners - A Taxing Proposition:**  Employees
    pay income and payroll tax on the health insurance premiums their
    employers provide for domestic partners who do not otherwise qualify
    as dependents. Benefits for different-sex spouses are not subject to
    this tax.

2.  **Flexible Spending Accounts Not So Flexible:**  Employees can use
    flexible spending accounts to pay for a different-sex spouse\'s
    medical expenses, including eyeglasses, prescriptions, and co-pays,
    on a pre-tax basis. These accounts cannot be used for a same-sex
    partner, or even a same-sex spouse.

3.  **Retirement Savings - Death and Taxes:**  Tax treatment of
    retirement savings, such as those found in 401(k) plans, privileges
    spouses and penalizes same-sex couples. This means that on the death
    of a partner, the surviving partner is left not only with the same
    emotional loss that a different-sex spouse experiences, but also
    with an unfair tax bill. This is problem is made even more acute by
    the fact that same-sex couples are denied survivors\' benefits under
    Social Security, even though they pay the same payroll taxes as
    heterosexual workers.

4.  **Estate and Gift Taxes - Strangers Under the Law:**  Different-sex
    spouses get a complete exemption from estate and gift taxes. But
    same-sex partners, even ones who are married in Massachusetts or
    parties to civil unions in Vermont, are treated as strangers under
    the tax code. So when a partner dies, their estate is subject to
    taxation.

**Social Security - Adverse Consequences for Same-Sex Couples**

1.  **Equal Contribution, Unequal Benefits:**  All GLBT people pay into
    Social Security on an equal basis with their heterosexual
    counterparts, but are not eligible for equal benefits.

2.  **No Survivors\' Benefits:**  Same-sex partners do not receive
    survivors\' benefits when a partner dies, even though they pay for
    them equally.

3.  **No Disability Benefits: ** Same-sex partners are not eligible for
    spouse\'s benefits when a partner becomes disabled, even though they
    pay equally into the program.

4.  **Children Are Left Unprotected: ** Sixty percent of children being
    raised by same-sex couples live in a jurisdiction where
    second-parent adoption is unavailable, meaning that these children
    cannot secure a recognized legal relationship with one of their
    parents. When a parent dies without such a legal relationship, the
    surviving child is not eligible for surviving child benefits under
    Social Security, even though the deceased parent paid into the
    program, and even if the parent supported the child for her whole
    life.

5.  **Even When a Child is Legally Adopted by Same-Sex Partner, Benefits
    are STILL Unavailable:  **Social Security provides \"surviving
    parent\" benefits to the parent caring for a minor child when the
    other parent dies. But all children raised by same-sex couples are
    excluded from this benefit, even though their parents pay equally
    into Social Security, because it is only given to couples who are
    recognized as \"spouses\" under federal law, which same-sex couples
    are not. Even though the benefit is for children and not spouses,
    children being raised by GLBT people are denied it because their
    parents cannot marry.

Sincerely,

Lauren R Biehl

1301 U Street NW \# 818

Washington, DC 20009