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'Marriage is a right' - but between whom? In many parts of the world, polygamy is legal. The president of South Africa has many wives. We dare not question the
by edblarney 10y ago
'Marriage is a right' - but between whom?
In many parts of the world, polygamy is legal. The president of South Africa has many wives. We dare not question their 'cultural integrity'.
A libertarian argument for polygamy could be made easily, just as strongly as the one for gay marriage.
Personally, I believe marriage is a cultural institution, not a civic one. I think that the government should not be in the business of defining what marriage is - and stick to 'civil unions'. Two people can declare themselves to be married - it's their choice of identity. Others can chose to reject that if they want. The government gets involved only for legal issues, much like you're declared to be in a 'civil union' if you live together with someone for long enough, irrespective of your marriage status.
- jimmies 10y agoI largely agree with you, and I don't even think that many people would have a problem with what you propose. But who gets to decide whether a civil union couple can file tax jointly or not?
- fl0wenol 10y agoI think the model should simply switch to household-based reporting only, regardless of status, especially if the joint set of taxpayers are claiming dependents. Each reporting adult filer in the household would link to a household TIN (like a EIN) and it would be done in aggregate. The decision to file separately would be based on the dilution of deductions as number of filers increased, relative financial independence desired, or risk of incurring the tax liabilities of others in the household. (That would discourage roommates from filing jointly if they desired financial independence to avoid abusing the model)