'Gay Tax' Imposed on Photographer Annie Leibovitz

By Shannon Connolly

Since the death of her partner, Susan Sontag, in 2004, Annie Leibovitz has been suffering the consequences of not having had the legal protections of a marriage. Much of Sontag's property was left to the renowned portrait photographer who is now paying a large inheritance tax, called the "gay tax" by After Ellen. According to federal law, when one partner in a married couple passes away, the widowed partner does not have to pay taxes on the property they inherit. Leibovitz does not benefit from those protections since her partnership was not legally recognized.

The Human Rights Campaign lists the more than 1,000 federal benefits enjoyed by married couples, many of which are health and money-related. Gay couples have, at best, state-level benefits depending on where they live.

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Name: Daniel Schreiber
Date posted: 3/11/2009 9:39:00 PM
Hometown: Berlin, Germany

Comment:
It's astounding that this rumor keeps on going through the blogosphere. According to Sontag's son and to close friends of Leibovitz's and Sonatg's, the photorapher did not inherit any property from her former partner, in part, because they were actually not together anymore at the tme of Sontag's death. The rumor goes back to fault reporting by the British "Independent", which just copied the information of Leibovitz's financial troubles from the New York Times and added their own little, very wrong theory to it. The "gay tax" is an incredibly awful thing, but you really picked the wrong postergilrs. Daniel Schreiber
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Name: Mark
Date posted: 3/11/2009 1:44:00 PM
Hometown: Wappingers Falls

Comment:
This is our fault. We need to stop asking and start demanding our equal rights as taxpayers and citizens.
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Name: otterb
Date posted: 3/11/2009 12:08:00 AM
Hometown: caz, ny

Comment:
This is one of the injustices straight folks do not know about which I have found to be a useful argument when discussing marriage equality. This news item should have included the current limit on the value of the estate before the tax kicks in, tho.

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