One benefit of marriage for wealthy couples is the exemption on federal estate taxes. All transfers of property to a surviving spouse are exempt from taxation, regardless of the size of the estate. It is difficult to estimate the amount of estate tax revenue that would be lost by legally recognizing same gender marriages. However, wealthy people tend to engage in estate tax planning to minimize taxation, so the difference would likely be small.
Marriage also creates an advantage when adding a spouse's name to a car title, for instance.
Such changes in title are often subject to a conveyance tax unless the new owner is a spouse. This exemption recognizes that property owned by married people is typically treated by the law as jointly owned, even if held in only one spouse's name. Like other taxes, this tax transfers income from one person to others through the state tax system and does not create any true cost or benefit. Spousal and Survivor Benefits. We do not know how many same gender couples would be eligible for spousal benefits, but evidence suggests the amount of additional benefit payments is likely to be small.