July 10, 2013
Miami Beach Commission to Pass Tax Equity Policy for Domestic Partners
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Gay City of Miami Beach employees in domestic partnerships no longer will pay thousands of dollars in extra taxes for their partner's health insurance coverage.
The city is set to pass a new tax equity policy for its employees that will reimburse them for this increase in their taxes. Miami Beach commissioners are set to vote on the measure today (June 5).
According to Equality Florida, the policy, sponsored by Commissioner Michael Gongora, counts with the support of most commissioners, as well as Mayor Matti Bower.
Unlike married heterosexual couples, the benefits for gay couples in domestic partnerships (the closest to gay marriage in Florida), including family health insurance coverage, was treated as income and is taxed as such.
"We are grateful to the City of Miami Beach, which has always been on the forefront of equal rights, and with this policy they have once again set the standard for Florida," Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida said in a statement.
The LGBT rights organization is calling the measure the "strongest and most comprehensive of its kind in the U.S."
Six other locations in Florida already passed similar policies, including Hallandale Beach, West Palm Beach, the Town of Bay Harbor Islands, the Orange County Tax Collector's Office and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
