ACLU sues over same-sex property taxes

August 03, 2010|by Jason Lamb

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The ACLU of Alaska claims the state unfairly discriminates against same-sex couples. The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of three gay couples Tuesday.

The controversy has to do with how much money seniors get to write off their property taxes each year and whether or not same-sex couples are entitled to the tax exemption.

After a 26-year relationship in Illinois, Julie Schmidt and Gayle Schuh moved to Alaska in 2003 for a lot of the same reasons other newcomers have.

“We'd vacationed up here several times, just really fell in love with Alaska and the people,” said Schmidt.

The couple bought a home in 2006 and two years ago, Julie applied for a senior citizen tax exemption.

The exemption allows any homeowner over 65 to not be taxed on up to $150,000 of their homes value.

They waited and waited, but they said they never got it.

“Once we scrutinized our tax bill a little bit further, we found out that truly we were not getting the full exemption,” said Schuh.

For a married couple, an entire house is eligible for that exemption if either the husband or wife is a senior citizen, but, according to the ACLU, that's not the case for same sex partners living in the same house.

Instead, the ACLU said, they're treated as two individuals, each owning half of the house.

“What the assessor does is say ‘OK, Gayle’s half of the home is worth X dollars and we'll give her the exemption on her half.’ That's not the way it is, it should apply to them the way it's applied to other Alaska families, the entire home applied to them jointly as a family,” said Jeffery Mittman, ACLU.

“We basically are being reduced to legal strangers. We're no more than co-owners of a house to the assessor,” said Schmidt.

“That's disturbing and it goes to our sense of fairness. As teachers, we are always trying to be fair and, yeah, that just hurts a little bit,” said Schuh.

The ACLU argued that a 2005 Alaska Supreme Court ruling prohibits discriminating against gay couples. It's filing a lawsuit asking the court to apply the same rights that a married couple has to long-term same-sex domestic partners.

“They're not roommates. They're not legal strangers. They're family and what we're asking is that the state of Alaska treats them as the constitution requires, as the families that they are,” said Mittman.

A spokesman for the state Department of Law said lawyers are reviewing the complaint and the department will respond in due time.

Contact Jason Lamb at jlamb@ktuu.com

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