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German court grants gay unions marriage tax breaks
Source: Associated Press
German court grants gay unions marriage tax breaks
AP foreign, Thursday June 6 2013
JUERGEN BAETZ
Associated Press= BERLIN (AP) — Gay rights campaigners won a victory over the German government Thursday as the country's top court ruled that homosexual couples in civil unions should receive the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that treating the two forms of partnership differently for tax purposes violates the country's guarantee of equal rights.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right government had long resisted granting the same tax benefits to gay couples in civil unions. Those unions — officially certified by a notary and carrying similar rights and duties to wedlock — are widely accepted by Germany's gay community as equivalent to marriage.
Married couples in Germany are able to jointly declare their taxable incomes, which can significantly lower their overall tax burden especially when one partner has higher pay. The rule costs the government annually about 15.5 billion euros ($20 billion).
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AP foreign, Thursday June 6 2013
JUERGEN BAETZ
Associated Press= BERLIN (AP) — Gay rights campaigners won a victory over the German government Thursday as the country's top court ruled that homosexual couples in civil unions should receive the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that treating the two forms of partnership differently for tax purposes violates the country's guarantee of equal rights.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right government had long resisted granting the same tax benefits to gay couples in civil unions. Those unions — officially certified by a notary and carrying similar rights and duties to wedlock — are widely accepted by Germany's gay community as equivalent to marriage.
Married couples in Germany are able to jointly declare their taxable incomes, which can significantly lower their overall tax burden especially when one partner has higher pay. The rule costs the government annually about 15.5 billion euros ($20 billion).
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10826460
2 replies
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But after seeing how rabid the babies on the right get when the possibility of gay marriage is raised, I now want that instead 