Tax Deductibility Of SRS Costs Spreads

As we announced previously, A US Tax Court ruled that the cost of sex reassignment surgery is deductible as a medical expense on federal tax forms. That decision was finalized un February 7 of this year. A tax payer would have to have detailed evidence of those costs and his or her medical records would have to clearly show that the patient had been diagnosed with gender identity disorder. Also the medical record would need to show that the surgery was medically necessary to treat the disorder

Under those conditions a patient could deduct the medical expenses on his or her federal income tax returns. The Tax Court also ruled that patients could submit an amended tax return for previous tax years to claim the deduction for up to four previous tax years.

But states with personal state income taxes also often allow tax payers to claim deductions for medical costs under certain circumstances. Does the ruling of the US Tax Court apply to these states?

To read the rest of this article click here.

The LGBTI Rights Battles Are Getting Confusing

National Equal Pay Day

Things Hoped For But Not seen

April 12 was celebrated by many as Equal Pay Day. But no one was celebrating women, on average, earning the same amount as men doing the same work. The achievement of that goal is still far off. The following is information provided to us by the National Organization For Women and other sources.

Currently, women are paid 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. Women workers -- full-time, year-round workers, mind you -- have been stuck making between 70 and 80 percent of male salaries for two decades now. Equal Pay Day is a vivid reminder of this inequity -- it illustrates how far into the new year the average woman must work in order to catch up with what the average man was paid in the previous year. It's important to note that women of color's salaries, compounded by race-based discrimination, lag even further behind the average woman.

Join California Communities United Institute

Fallen Heros

Feds Pass Budget That Hurts The War On AIDS

E-Verify Hurts Employers, Workers And Consumers

Federal law establishes an electronic employment verification system, originally known as the Basic Pilot Program (enacted by Section 404 of Public Law 104-208) and renamed in 2007 as the electronic employment verification database (E-Verify) Program, This was meant to be an experimental and temporary system available to employers on a voluntary basis. It is a program that is supposed to help employers determine whether or not job applicants have the right to work in this country. Under federal law, workers who enter this country without permission, and without the proper documentation, do not have a legal right to work in the United States.

However, a 2007 independent evaluation commissioned by the federal Department of Homeland Security found that the electronic employment verification database was not sufficiently up to date to meet requirements for accurate verification of individual workers' right to work. In fact, a lot of the information it provided was simply wrong. This has led to employers being unable to hire employees in a timely manner and has kept workers from earning wages.