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

From: WFOXTROT@aol.com
\[[[mailto:WFOXTROT@aol.com]{.underline}](mailto:WFOXTROT@aol.com)\]

Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 5:25 PM

To: comments

Subject: Comments

The President\'s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform

1440 New York Avenue NW Suite 2100

Washington, DC 20220

To Whom It May Concern:

Attached, please find my submission to the Advisory Panel.

Respectfully,

Wendy Foster

Brookline, MA

March 15, 2005

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

To Whom It May Concern:

As you consider changes to the federal tax system, I urge you to take
into account all the ways that the current system is unfair to same-sex
partners living in committed relationships:

-   **Retirement Savings:**  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 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.

-   **Estate and Gift Taxes:**  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.

-   **Health Insurance for Partners:**  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.

-   **Flexible Spending Accounts:**  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.

I also urge you to take into account all the ways that social security
is unfair to same-sex couples:

-   **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.

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

-   **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.

Finally, please take into account the many ways that social security is
unfair to dependent the children of same-sex couples:

-   **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.

-   **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,

Wendy Foster

Brookline, MA