Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr brings up more of the potential consequences of the Mass. Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision. (paid subscription required)
Once the incest and polygamy bans fall, and they will, what happens if a dying millionaire decides that the best way to avoid the inheritance tax is to divorce his wife and marry . . . his son? Or his daughter? Or his daughter and his son?
If you stand to leave a million-dollar estate, you can pass down every penny, tax-free, to your spouse. If you leave it to anybody else, your heirs will pay a 55 percent death tax - $550,000.
And what if criminals start getting married, to avoid having to testify against each other? Hell, it already happens. Who could stop Whitey Bulger from taking Steve Flemmi as his bride, er, groom? Omerta isn’t what it used to be, but you don’t need a vow of silence if everybody in the gang is hitched to each other. This SJC insanity may yet give new meaning to the old movie, “Married to the Mob.”
Of course, the natural response of the gay marriage crowd is “End spousal privilege.” Now spouses will have to testify against ther husbands or wives. No more tax exemption on inheritances (never mind that the death tax is inherently unfair to begin with). Rather than open up the benefits of marriage to gays, what it will do is destroy those privileges that currently exist as a way of justifying a decision that really turns marriage into nothing more than an association of convenience.
