The letter from Yale was dated December 22. The employee opened it on Christmas Day. The phrase “lump of coal” comes to mind.
The letter informed the employee, and about 60 others with same-sex spouses, of a tax mistake. The employee owed thousands of dollars in 2010 federal taxes that the university had failed to withhold.
Yale would pay the taxes, then recoup the money during the first three months of 2011. Paired with the gay employees’ newly corrected — and higher than expected — 2011 tax withholding, that would result in significantly smaller paychecks....
The error arose because the employees cover their same-sex spouses through their Yale health insurance. Under Connecticut law, employer-provided health insurance for a gay spouse is a tax-free benefit — just as it is for hetero couples. But the federal government doesn’t recognize gay marriages or civil unions, so employees are taxed on the value of their spouses’ health care.
4. Mmmm-kay. So what would stop people from doing what they did in the '50s?
A gay male couple and a lesbian couple would "trade places", so to speak, to provide the requisite gender mix for a legal ceremony -- and all those juicy benefits. :-)
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