This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Like the Tribune Editorial Board in Our View, Sept. 3, we should applaud the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and his boss, Barack Obama, for allowing same-sex married couples to file joint tax returns. This is, indeed, a states rights issue.
The IRS last week issued a statement that it would "accept joint tax returns from same-sex couples who were married under the law of any state that recognizes marriage equality, no matter where the couple resides now."
We should, however, be aware that this decision will be of little benefit to some of the intended beneficiaries because filing joint tax returns would subject these citizens to the so-called marriage tax penalty. We should use this decision as a rallying point to start a lobbying effort with our elected representatives to end the archaic provision in the tax code that penalizes the institution of marriage regardless of the gender of the taxpayers.
Fred Fairclough Jr.
Salt Lake City