Just before Christmas, George W. Bush signed a bill called the The Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA) which, among other things, “makes it mandatory for businesses to roll over retirement benefits to a same-sex partner in the event of the employee's death.”
According to the Minnesota Independent, “Previously, employers could decline and surviving same-sex partners would have to pay tax on the inheritance of the deceased partner's retirement savings. Legally married heterosexual couples automatically avoid that tax penalty.”
HRC's Joe Solmonese applauded the act's passage: “This legislation secures much-needed protection for lesbian and gay couples. Our community faces unique challenges in preparing for retirement because we are denied Social Security spousal and survivor benefits. Protecting our hard-earned retirement savings is even more crucial to us, and until now, the tax code made it that much harder.”
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Bush Doesn't Let the Shoe Hit Him on the Way Out [tr]
