Politics

Elizabeth Warren Wants Reparations For Same-Sex Couples

REUTERS/Loren Elliott

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has added “gay and lesbian couples” to the growing list of groups for whom she would support reparations.

Citing a tax code that was “discriminatory” against non-heterosexual married couples, Warren tweeted Saturday, “It wasn’t until marriage equality became law that gay & lesbian couples could jointly file tax returns—so they paid more in taxes. Our government owes them more than $50M for the years our discriminatory tax code left them out. We must right these wrongs.”

Warren’s Refund Equality Act, introduced June 20, would retroactively apply “married-filing jointly” status — along with refunding the amount overpaid — to same sex couples who were married in states where such unions were recognized prior to the federal government doing so in 2013. (RELATED: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Floats Reparations For Native Americans)

“The federal government forced legally married same-sex couples in Massachusetts to file as individuals and pay more in taxes for almost a decade,” Warren explained. “We need to call out that discrimination and to make it right — Congress should pass the Refund Equality Act immediately.”

According to NBC News, such reparations could run up a tab of $57 million or higher.