Under current tax law, domestic and same-sex partners pay anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 more per year for their health benefits than married couples. But two bills just introduced in Congress would change that.
Employer-provided health benefits for domestic and same-sex partners are currently counted as taxable income under federal law. Benefits for married couples are not.
The Tax Parity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act would change that tax treatment so all couples are treated equally.
The bill was just introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) along with another Democrat and two Republicans in the House.
If the bill sounds familiar, it’s because a similar proposal has been languishing in Congress since 2001.
This time, however, McDermott hopes to increase the chances of getting the bill passed by attaching it to larger tax reform legislation expected to hit Congress in the near future, according to a report by the Washington Blade.
Shortly after McDermott introduced the bill in the House, companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
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