Why not abolish marriage certificates for everyone?

[Assimilate]

Me and my girlfriend don't plan on getting married, but there are certain benefits to getting married, and we agreed if we got married in the future it would be for those things. We've been together for 6 years now, and don't need a ring and piece of paper to prove our love for one another. I'd be for abolishing all those rights that come with marriage, but it would be nice to be able to put my girlfriend on my insurance plan or let her be the one who decides my affairs if i'm to ill.

[Ryantology]

If I was single with no kids I would have a lot more financial stability.

Kids make all the financial difference, especially if you're single, so make the financial benefits, and the amount thereof, contingent upon that.

[Minimalist]

And the complex tax code seems a more pressing issue than the legal institution of marriage (which has substantial rules devoted to joining and splitting of shared property and resources).

Child's Play compared to the corporate welfare benefits written into the tax code. You know, the fuckers are never in favor of removing those.

[TaraJo]

That said, other benefits are worth having, such as the right to be your partner's next of kin, the right to handle their affairs if they are ill, etc. There are too many horror stories of married gay people who live in states which do not support gay marriage being denied access to their partners whilst they lie dying or critically injured in hospital.

This, no question at all.

Personally, though, my idea is that at a legal level, all marriages, gay or straight, are seen as civil unions and civil unions are therefore given all the legal status that marriage currently has. If a church wants to call it a marriage or a wedding, that's just fine, and those are still legally civil unions. Let's the homophobes maintain their sanctity of marriage while gay people are allowed all the same rights, responsibilities and privileges of any other couple.

[No_God]

Child's Play compared to the corporate welfare benefits written into the tax code. You know, the fuckers are never in favor of removing those.

My thoughts exactly.

Why are we worried about marriage benefits when we have bigger fish to fry?

[Tiberius]

Tiberius, raising a child engenders more risk and a significant drain on resources, even when multiple people pool them.

The societal view is that we give subsidies to families (which are more likely to have planned children) to equalize their risk to be competitive with individuals.

I don't think you quite followed my post.

You asserted that Libertarians don't say stuff like "let's minimize the differences between X and Y so we may consider removing something" but rather prefer to say "Remove X" or "Abolish Y". I was countering that my post was more of the former and less of the latter. That I didn't say to abolish or remove benefits outright, but rather thought that some specific aspects were unfair, whilst other aspects were definitely needed.

It is understandable that children are expensive, and a significant drain on resources, but my major point of contention is not with benefits for children, but with benefits for couples "just because" they are married. Take, for instance, the Married Couples Allowance in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/married-couples-allowance/overview

Effectively, it's a tax cut for married people...just because they are married. I think that's unfair on single people. Note that this allowance is given even if the couple don't have children / aren't planning on having children. It has nothing to do with children.

[Mr. Moncrieff]

If I was single with no kids I would have a lot more financial stability.

Amen to that.

[*Deidre*]

How about "common law" marriage? Not all states honor or recognize this, but I've always thought that was an odd "law."

[max-greece]

As a married man with a child I can say I don't need tax incentives- they really weren't the reason I made these decisions.

A Chauffeur, on the other hand, now that would be worth while. Its a job I am getting tired of!

[Mr. Moncrieff]

As a married man with a child I can say I don't need tax incentives- they really weren't the reason I made these decisions.

A Chauffeur, on the other hand, now that would be worth while. Its a job I am getting tired of!

My two are under 5, but the amount of dance classes they go to in the week is ridiculous.

I've asked if they can't do something that entails them stopping at home more.