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Although the law that was signed targeted all non-spouse beneficiaries, Homosexual couples have jumped on and made a lot of hay out of legislation that allows beneficiaries to spread out receipts of a deceased person’s retirement account over five or more years:
One change, part of the pension overhaul that President Bush signed into law Thursday, lets a beneficiary spread out the tax hit when inheriting a retirement plan like a 401(k).
The old law required a beneficiary who wasn’t a spouse to take the money in a lump sum and pay income tax. The higher-than-average income meant they often paid tax at higher income tax rates.
Under the new law, heirs can put the money into an Individual Retirement Arrangement, or IRA, and withdraw the money over time — either over five years or over his or her life expectancy.
I can understand the tax implications of receiving a lot of money at once. That’s one of the reasons I’m for a Fair Tax/National Sales Tax instead of an income tax. Certainly you should be able to leave your money for whomever they want, and there should be a way to make sure that they aren’t robbed of a portion of it. You earned it, do whatever you want with it. I can’t say that I would be discriminitory with it, and say that it could only be given to heterosexual people.
That being said– why is it getting publicity like it’s a law that was specifically intended to benefit same sex couples? If you read a bit of skepticism in here, you’re reading me right. Certainly the Republicans and the President would be aware of the implications of this law. Was there enough of a warrant for this in non same-sex couples to justify it? Do we know?
Will this law further erode marriage as an institution? I could see where people could now have one more reason why they shouldn’t marry and they could just cohabitate. At what point does the government get out of the marriage business because they don’t think that there’s a perceived benefit anymore? Because they certainly don’t seem to be acting like there is a big benefit!
