QandO
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February 26, 2004 Practical considerations The economic consequences of un-defining marriage are worthy of consideration.... The Canadian government, which is considering same-sex marriage legislation, has just realized that retroactive social-security survivor benefits alone would cost its taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a real problem of distributive justice here. How can one justify treating same-sex households like married couples when such benefits are denied to all the people in our society who are caring for elderly or disabled relatives whom they cannot claim as family members for tax or insurance purposes?There are two issues here: 1: What are the financial implications of extending financial obligations on such a large scale? 2: If marriage no longer means "1 man/1 woman", what - specifically - does it mean? And is there any way - or reason - to avoid having it exploited for retirement benefits? Will criminals begin marrying each other simply to avoid having to testify against each other? Can somebody marry a family member for tax purposes? And if not, why? (link via Marcland) |