Tax Implications for Same-Sex Couples

This week Americans will rush to complete their tax returns, and perhaps to write out a check to the Internal Revenue Service. For some taxpayers, the pain will be sharper, particularly for gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals and their families. While same-sex couples in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and soon in Iowa and Vermont may marry, the federal government still does not recognize same-sex couples as married, no matter where they live. As a result, same-sex couples pay more in taxes and receive fewer benefits than do married different-sex couples

Cost of Florida's Ban on Adoption by GLB Individuals and Same-Sex Couples

This memo estimates the impact on children and the cost to the State of Florida of the current prohibition on adoption by gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals and same-sex couples. We use data about the number of children adopted each year as a way to estimate the number of GLB individuals and same-sex couples who would be likely to serve as adoptive parents if the ban were not in place. Prohibiting GLB individuals and same-sex couples from adopting means that 165 children must remain in foster care or must have alternative adoptive homes recruited for them. As a result, we estimate that the ban costs the State of Florida over $2.5 million in per year. As explained below, this estimate is conservative since some likely additional costs are difficult to quantify. In addition, because of the current prohibition on GLB individuals and same-sex couples adopting children in Florida, it is possible that more GLB individuals and same-sex couples would be interested in adopting if the ban were lifted. We estimate that if the ban were lifted, both adoption and foster care by GLB individuals and same-sex couples would increase to the average United States level, leading to 219 children being adopted, and saving the State of Florida$3.4 million dollars in the first year

The Effects of Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: A survey of the experiences and impact of marriage on same-sex couples

May 17th, 2009 marks the 5th year of marriage equality in the state of Massachusetts. To mark this anniversary, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health conducted the largest survey to date of married same-sex couples, the Health and Marriage Equality in Massachusetts (HMEM) survey. During the past year, four other states have extended marriage to same-sex couples and several other states are considering marriage legislation. The HMEM data allows us to address important questions that arise as other states consider whether to extend marriage to same-sex couples. The data provides answers to several key questions: Who is getting married? Why are same-sex couples getting married? What impact has marriage had on same-sex relationships? And, what impact has marriage had on the children of same-sex couples

The Fiscal Impact of Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Domestic Partners

This report finds that offering health and other benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees would add $41 million to the federal budget in the first year of coverage. Over ten years the report predicts the budgetary cost will be$675 million, a small percentage of the federal budget. The report also takes into account the added federal income taxes that will be paid by federal employees if they sign a partner up for health insurance. It estimates the cost of including partners in retirement benefits, work injury and death compensation, and travel and relocation expenses. Many benefits offered to federal employees, such as life insurance and family and medical leave, can be offered to domestic partners at no additional cost to the federal government

The Business Boost from Marriage Equality: Evidence from the Health and Marriage Equality in Massachusetts Survey

This brief draws on two sources of data, a survey and state-collected tax revenue data, and finds that marriages have had a positive economic effect on Massachusetts -- likely providing a boost of over $100 million to the state economy. Same-sex couples' weddings injected significant spending into the Massachusetts economy and brought out-of-state guests to the state, whose spending also added to the economic boost

Kentucky Foster Care/Adoption Ban Cost Estimate

This memo estimates the impact on children and the cost to the State of Kentucky of Senate Bill 68, "The Child Welfare Adoption Act," which would prohibit unmarried cohabiting couples -- including both different-sex couples and same-sex couples -- from fostering or adopting children. We use past data to estimate the number of children in foster care who were placed with unmarried couples as a way to estimate the number of impacted children in the first year the proposed legislation would take effect. Prohibiting unmarried couples from fostering or adopting would reduce the number of foster and adoptive families available to care for the 7,027 children currently in foster care. We estimate that 630 foster children will be removed from their current homes and placements during the first year that the ban is in effect. In addition, 85 children in foster care will either not be adopted or remain in foster care longer because the ban will prohibit their adoption by unmarried couples. As a result, the ban will cost the State of Kentucky over $5.3 million in the first year. As explained below, this estimate is conservative since some likely additional costs are difficult to quantify

Sensory and chemical analysis of 1997 Oregon Pinot noir enzyme treated wines

Pinot noir has a reputation for lower color stability than other red wine varieties. Because it has relatively low anthocyanin and phenolic content and lacks acylated anthocyanin pigments compared to other red vinifera varieties, color extraction and stability are particularly important. Varying the processing during fermentation of red wine can produce high quality wines. Pectolytic enzymes are used in wine processing for many purposes from increasing juice yield and filtering rates to improving color and phenolic extraction. Macerating enzymes used in this study, Scottzyme Color Pro (Scott Laboratories), Scottzyme Color X (Scott Laboratories), Lallzyme EX (Lallemand), GB Rapidase EX Color (Gist Brocades), and Vinozyme G (Cellulo) were added to 1997 Oregon Pinot noir must prior to fermentation to observe color, aroma and flavor changes. These commercial enzymes have been reported to increase color and improve aroma and flavor of red wines. The effect of these enzymes had not previously been investigated on Oregon Pinot noir but the manufacturers reported increased polymeric phenols, polymeric anthocyanins, tannins, color stability, red hue and saturation of red wine varieties. These enzymes have varying manufacturer recommended usage levels and it is not known how the dosage levels and the enzymes themselves affect Oregon Pinot noir. Sensory evaluations of these wines, at a high and low dosage level, were conducted through free-choice profiling by winemakers and descriptive analysis from a trained panel. In addition, chemical analyses were performed and related to sensory panel results. Overall the addition of these enzymes to Oregon Pinot noir produced wines with greater purple, red descriptors and higher color intensity than the control wine from trained descriptive panel and winemaker panel results. In aroma, the enzyme treated wines were higher in vegetative and earthy descriptors compared to the control. GB Rapidase EX Color (Gist Brocades) was higher in bitterness flavor compared with other samples. Low enzyme wine treatments separated wine samples more from the control then high enzyme wine treatments. The color and appearance, aroma and flavor axes of the profile maps were not significant in the high enzyme treated wines as determined from the winemaker panel. Furthermore, the winemaker panel found acidity the only aroma or flavor descriptor significant in the high dosage ANOVA results. Whereas six descriptors in the low enzyme ANOVA results were significant in separating aroma and flavor samples. Except for Lallzyme EX (Lallemand) treated wine, the hunter colorimeter results showed all low enzyme treated wines were significantly (p<0.05) more red-purple (lower hues) than the high enzyme treated wines

An Interactive Visual Database for American Sign Language Reveals How Signs are Organized in the Mind

We are four researchers who study psycholinguistics, linguistics, neuroscience and deaf education. Our team of deaf and hearing scientists worked with a group of software engineers to create the ASL-LEX database that anyone can use for free. We cataloged information on nearly 3,000 signs and built a visual, searchable and interactive database that allows scientists and linguists to work with ASL in entirely new ways

The ASL-LEX 2.0 Project: A Database of Lexical and Phonological Properties for 2,723 Signs in American Sign Language

ASL-LEX is a publicly available, large-scale lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL). We report on the expanded database (ASL-LEX 2.0) that contains 2,723 ASL signs. For each sign, ASL-LEX now includes a more detailed phonological description, phonological density and complexity measures, frequency ratings (from deaf signers), iconicity ratings (from hearing non-signers and deaf signers), transparency (“guessability”) ratings (from non-signers), sign and videoclip durations, lexical class, and more. We document the steps used to create ASL-LEX 2.0 and describe the distributional characteristics for sign properties across the lexicon and examine the relationships among lexical and phonological properties of signs. Correlation analyses revealed that frequent signs were less iconic and phonologically simpler than infrequent signs and iconic signs tended to be phonologically simpler than less iconic signs. The complete ASL-LEX dataset and supplementary materials are available at https://osf.io/zpha4/ and an interactive visualization of the entire lexicon can be accessed on the ASL-LEX page: http://asl-lex.org/