Melissa Etheridge: You Can Forget My Taxes

[brooklynite]

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We're gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that's not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won't have to pay their taxes either.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-11-06/you-can-forget-my-taxes/

[sharesunited]

1. I take your point Ma'am. But don't go getting yourself in trouble over it.

Does common law marriage still exist in California?

[Ms. Toad]

24. Unfortunately,

even if it exists in CA (and I don't know whether or not it does), a pre-requisite for the recognition of a common law marriage is that the couple be eligible to marry.

Nice thought - but if that worked, Ohio would be legally recognizing my marriage since it was established before stopped recognizing them in around 1991.

[IndyOp]

2. Melissa Etheridge has worked her tail off to get Dems elected - Prop 8 passing really burns

for lots of reasons and among them is the fact that Melissa and the Human Rights Campaign and gays & lesbians across the nation worked so hard to move our nation forward and in return they got kicked in the teeth.

:(

[tavalon]

16. Do not mistake the battle for the war

This battle has been lost but the other side lost the war a long time ago. Our culture is moving on, becoming more and more accepting of gays with every decade. They lost, gays and everyone who supports them have already won. This is just one of the death throes, an ugly death throe I'll grant you, but a death throe nonetheless.

[Richardo]

3. UPS workers?

Brava, Melissa! :applause:

[justiceischeap]

4. I'd love to keep my tax money too

Though I'm no where near the point Etheridge's money would make, collectively it would be a shit ton of taxed revenue that would be missing from the government.

[Greyhound]

5. Sounds completely logical to me. I'm sure Mel Gibson will have no problem kicking in her share

since he's such a stand-up religious guy and this is a small price to pay to keep his marriage sound.

Kelsey Grammer (the coke dealer) will happily pick up Ellen's share, Stephen Baldwin can pay Rosie O'Donnell's tab and so on...

[robinlynne]

6. 600,000 uncounted ballots here in LA. maybe more. Most young voters' ballots were

not counted yet! DO NOT CONCEDE! WAIT! COUNT THE BALLOTS PEOPLE!
Los Angeles alone can turn this around.

the registrar doesn't even know how many provisionals there are in this county yet!
and you would concede?

[Critters2]

10. When will they all be counted? nt

[robinlynne]

20. 28 days.

[Jamastiene]

7. Way to go, Melissa!

:applause:

[2Design]

8. great idea - they all need to make a statement to the state of calif

They people who spent the money in the state to brainwash people were rom elsewhere - they truly need to hit them where the money counts. Florida should do the same thing - there are so many gays in these states and they make a lot of money - they may be a minority but they may be a majority with their money - steven speilberg, brad and angelina, ellen, oprah, all of these people can make a monetary statement

[Ilsa]

9. This should be top story in California. Maybe they could

buy homes in Massachusetts and that as homestead.

[zorahopkins]

11. "What recession? We're gay!" Huh?

I hope that Melissa doesn't mean to suggest that all gay people are somehow immune to the effects of a recession.

There are plenty of gay people who have already lost their jobs in the Bush recession.

[tavalon]

13. She means that since she isn't an equal citizen, she is under no obligation to pay her state taxes

It's a flawed argument but it points out the hypocrisy of the state rather nicely. I think a better framing though is to ally it with civil rights, because, well, it is.

[tavalon]

12. Melissa, she is your wife. Call her your wife. I saw your wedding pictures, you're married.

Many of the people in your state chose bigotry over acceptance but the great thing is that California courts will strike this down. It doesn't have a chance, but it does have a chance of going (positively) viral. Wouldn't it be great if Prop 8 finally takes down the national bigotry around gay marriage? That would be some cool blowback, methinks. The bigots won a battle, they've already lost the war. Our culture is leaving them in the dust. Knuckledraggers are not required in the 21st century - they will evolve or disappear.

[Schema Thing]

14. Hah! Sweet; Mrs (Miss?) Etheridge is have herself a little tea party

[LisaL]

15. Of course you can stop paying your taxes. But don't be surprised

when IRS comes after you.
That's all I am saying. And you don't have to be a citizen to pay taxes. Immigrants who are not citizens do pay taxes.
Immigrants who are not citizens don't have the same rights as citizens do. For instance they can't vote. But they still pay taxes. So that argument does not hold water.

[2Design]

18. This could become big if all gay people and the other rich who support

them did something like this across the united states - this needs to happen across the usa - hate crimes are illegal and this is a hate crime

[LisaL]

19. You can't stop paying your taxes because you are not happy

with something.

[2Design]

21. money may be the only way to get their attention and civil

disobedience by a large number of wealthy people makes sense to me - they support many of these states and they supported our candidates - so instead of deciding what they cannot do - why not think of how they can gain what they deserve too - equality - NOW

[JVS]

25. I don't think the IRS cares if you pay your state taxes

[LiberalHeart]

17. This may be a very dumb question, but is it possible some people thought "Yes" meant they okayed it?

And that they thought a no was saying no to gay marriage?

[Political Tiger]

22. Perfectly said, Melissa!

If all the gay people in California were to go on strike for a day or two, I wonder what the economic impact would be on the state?

[johnaries]

23. I was so disappointed to find out Melissa was gay,

because I wanted to marry her myself! I love you, Melissa!

I support her and all other GLBT's in California and nationwide. She and all GLBT's should donate their CA tax money to the court case. There is no way a court could find this prop as anything as a violaton of civil rights and unConstitutional.

[newtothegame]

26. "What recession? We're gay!" Good one Melissa :)

[donheld]

27. You go girl!

[2Design]

28. another article on alternet

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/106191/legal_challenges_filed_against_prop_8/

In a press release, Lambda Legal attorney Jenny Pizer said:

If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution. Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw - it removes a protected constitutional right - here, the right to marry - not from all Californians, but just from one group of us. That's too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters.

[joeunderdog]

29. Come to Massachusetts. Welcome!

We're getting Libral-er by the day.