Same-sex marriage: Good business for Maryland?
November 28, 2007
A group of researchers has concluded that if Maryland legalized same-sex marriage, the state would benefit to the tune of $3.2 million.
The researchers are affiliated with the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, and they have done analyses on other states before, concluding that legalizing gay marriage or extending domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples would bring in money and/or cost the states little.
According to a press release on the study, some of what makes up that $3.2 million figure are these factors:
“— Extending marriage rights to same-sex couples would reduce the State’s expenditures on means-tested public benefit programs by about $1.5 million annually.
— The net impact on the State’s income tax revenue resulting from same-sex marriages would be small: the State would experience a decrease in income tax revenue of about $132,000 annually….
— The State would incur some revenue loss from transfer taxes as a result of same-sex marriage, approximately $1.4 million annually.
— With same-sex marriage, annual expenditures on state employee benefit programs would increase between $400,000 and $1.3 million….”
The researchers also postulated that if same-sex marriage were legalized, 7,800 gay couples in Maryland would wed. All those nuptials would give the wedding and tourist industries a major boost, resulting in a net gain to business of $88 million per year in the first three years, the study says.
On page 25, they’ve also got an interesting chart listing the Maryland companies that offer domestic partner benefits. Highlights include DLA Piper, Johns Hopkins, and BGE.
-CARYN TAMBER, Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
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