Loophole supreme court can live with

Marriage equality as defined by the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision could end inheritance taxes and also worsen economic inequality.

Case in point:

A rich elderly widower is advised by his lawyer to remarry to avoid a huge inheritance tax. (Those who have attended a retirement planning class know about this.) So the man picks his favorite grandson as his partner and, thanks to the SCOTUS decision, the Justice of the Peace has no choice but to issue them a marriage license. Life goes on as before; no one besides the JP even needs to know. And when he dies, the state gets ripped off.

Justice Alito asked a question about marriage of two closely related same-sex people. The response suggested it would be permitted. Apparently it's a loophole the SCOTUS can live with.

So, the rich will get to pass on their inheritance to their "spouse" when they die. Lawyers will profit by walking clients through their "marriages" for tax evasion and by keeping them out of jail (not to mention by litigating against bakers, florists and others who provide marriage services). The rest of us will pay for the disruption, costs of litigation and loss of revenue.

Well, at least the SCOTUS did not tell the states "If you like your inheritance tax, you can keep your inheritance tax." I guess the five kings of the SCOTUS made this decision so we can find out what's in it. Now we know it's not all good, especially for those who are concerned about inequality.

If equality is what Progressives want, then maybe the next time a presidential candidate wants to accuse Republicans for wanting to reduce the inheritance tax for the rich, she will need to rethink it.

Virgil Banowetz

Naperville