The Department of Justice decision to cease defending the “defense of marriage act” in court was prompted by a case in which a married lesbian couple was forced to pay a $363,053 tax bill upon death of one of the spouses.
Her death triggered a $363,053 federal tax bill from which her widow would have been exempt had she been married to a man, because the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions.
Windsor’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the act was one of two cited by the Obama administration to justify its decision to stop defending the law. The decision may be a turning point in the fight over putting same-sex marriages on the same footing as heterosexual unions
Is it fair to charge an American citizen $363,053 MORE in taxes because her spouse was an woman?
