German federal court: give gay civil partners same tax breaks as married couples
The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the country’s same-sex registered partners must be granted the same tax breaks as couples in natural marriages. In their June majority decision, six of the eight justices ruled that treating civil unions differently amounts to “unequal treatment because of sexual orientation” and that failure to guarantee equality “leads to discrimination against a minority”. Married couples in Germany can declare their taxable incomes jointly, which results in significantly lower tax payments. The court ordered the government to enact legislation and amend relevant laws retroactive to 2001. The German Constitutional Court In Germany, registered partnerships currently provide nearly all the same rights as natural marriage except joint adoption and full tax benefits, but the Federal Constitutional Court is slowly chipping away at the last of these differences. In February 2013, the court allowed one member of a civil partnership to a...