they withhold less from your paycheck if you claim married on your W2. at the end of the year though, your household income falls into the same tax bracket as single person making the same ammount. my income + my wife's income is taxed at a rate similar to a single person making an ammount equal to the sum of both.

so where's the benefit?

 

by the way...best thread EVER!!!

 

hmm. i'll have to inquire with my accountant next year when doing my taxes. every time i've tried it myself, married - joint seems to get the best returns, but it's still less than if we were not married.


the medical benefits topic was brought up in this thread, my response is that regardless of actually being married, a committed couple can share medical benefits through one partners employer.

 

i believe that marriage began as a religious ceremony, but is no longer just a religious ceremony anymore.

kind of like christmas.

 

dont start him on chrismas

 

thats a whole other thread for next month

 

Why should people who didn't consider it a religious ceremony be able to include themselves in the religous ceremony in the past?

 

So here's a question: Say this proposition goes down in flames. What then?

You simply read Proverbs 22:6 and follow the advice.

All in all, after 9 years in private Christian schools, I learned a LOT more about tolerance, patience, love and acceptance, and cherish those beliefs more than arguing over who has the right to use the word "marriage".

 

so by that logic agnostics and athiests should also not be allowed to be married?

 

If the people vote No on Prop 8, then see what happens and how it effects our education system and society socially and deal with all the potential issues that follow.

I'm glad you learned about tolerance, patience, love and acceptance. I truly think it is important. I will vote for what I believe is right and live with what ever happens and do my best to live as God wants, with the virtues you listed.

 

I don't know, I was asking you a question. Please answer it.

 

Should people be able to include themselves in someone elses' tradition to include themselves if it alters the tradtion itself?

 

I have to get to bed guys, I have a 24 hour shift tomorrow. I won't be on til Monday, so I'll probably have 40 pages of catch up to do.

Thanks to everyone participating in this thread and for everyone debating in a civil manner. I'm glad to see people involved and caring enough to have a position.

 

Regardless of what his answer is, the fact remains that Christmas is hardly a celebration of the birth of Christ for a majority of Americans. I never see 'Celebrate Christ's birth!!!" commercials in November/December; It's all Tickle Me Elmo and Lego's. To that end, those that believe in 'traditional' marriage and argue for it as a religious union have only degraded their own ceremony by allowing the government in to put rights and protections around it. Marriage is no longer a strictly religious ceremony.

 

i do think that people who are not religious should be allowed to get married if they wish to do so.

if mankind did everything the way it was done 2000 years ago, we'd all still be living in huts and not having this discussion on the internets.

your christian religion did the exact same thing with most of their holidays.