Domestic partners in California won the right to the same property tax breaks as husbands and wives under state law Thursday when the state Supreme Court turned down an appeal by county assessors.The justices left intact an October ruling by an appeals court in Sacramento that allowed registered domestic partners – same-sex couples, or unmarried heterosexual couples in which one partner is at least 62 – to accept or inherit real estate from one another without new tax assessments.
From the Miami Herald:
“We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling today, reaffirming that a surviving domestic partner should not lose the family home because he or she must pay taxes that a surviving married spouse does not,†said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. “The fact that this lawsuit moved forward in the first place further illustrates the need to grant same-sex couples the ability to marry in California. Then we would not have to waste time and tax-payer money to defend these kinds of very sensible and vital protections.â€Â
The San Francisco Chronicle
The Miami Herald
When right-wingers try to tell you that we are the party that wastes taxpayer’s money, this is just another example of where they are wrong.