A law professor wrote an article discussing our work ensuring state tax guidance to same-sex couples after DOMA was struck down. About half the states both (1) require state tax return filing status to match the federal taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. return filing status and (2) ban gay marriage. As these together create a paradox for taxpayers, we worked with states to provide affirmative guidance and options, rather than just throwing same-sex couple taxpayers to the wolves. I’m pleased to say that every state did so.
The article discussing this (and other interesting post-DOMA invalidation wrinkles, such as Medicare, Social Security, and military benefits) is Sarah R. Sullivan & Martha Prado, Preemption of Public Benefits in the Shadow of DOMA: When State and Federal Law Collide, 15 Fla. Coastal L. Rev. 225 (Winter 2014).
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