The California
marriage equality victory means big bucks for the state
economy -- and good news for the budget crisis there. But as
Jen Christensen finds out, businesses around the
country are raking it in too.
When the
California supreme court ruled in favor of marriage
equality, wedding bells went off in many
people’s heads. But many others heard the sound
of the cash register or the credit card machine as they
contemplated the financial windfall in store for the state.
As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a San Francisco
event May 20, “I hope that California’s
economy is booming because everyone is going to come here
and get married!”
The financial
boost couldn’t come at a better time, given the
state’s growing budget deficit -- $17.2 billion
at press time -- which forced Schwarzenegger to
declare a fiscal emergency earlier this year. “Every
bit of money helps,” says Lee Badgett, an economist
at the University of Massachusetts who coauthored a
2004 Williams Institute study assessing the economic
impact of same-sex marriage in California. Its conclusion?
An annual net gain for the state budget of about $30
million, based on consumer spending of at least $85
million. And that number is four years old.
“Weddings haven’t gotten any cheaper since
then,” she says.
According to
Badgett, Massachusetts saw an estimated injection of $102
million into the economy in the first 18 months after
same-sex marriage was legalized -- which
doesn’t include every cost. “No one tracks the
economic boost when your great-aunt in Iowa sends you a
wedding gift,” she says.
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