Benefits Enrollment

I just got done speaking with an HR representative at my employer. Let me say - she was awesome! I turned in my forms, and she didn't even skip a beat when referring to my partner. When she realized that I was enrolling a domestic partner instead of a spouse, she had to explain the different taxation process. She was surprised I knew anything about it! Apparently most same-sex partners she's enrolled were clueless. People - educate yourselves!

I'll have to wait till my first paycheck to see how this actually works and the different dollar amounts, but this is pretty much what it's going to look like: the approximately $97 that my employer pays each pay period (or maybe each month--I forget what she said) for Amy's benefits will be considered my income, which means I'll be taxed on $97 dollars a paycheck that I didn't actually earn. Amy's portions of our insurance premium (about $30 a paycheck) will be a post-tax deduction--yeah I said POST-TAX. I wonder if tax protesters/tea-baggers know about this? I wonder why they're not protesting the extra taxes same-sex partners have to pay...

Once I get my first paycheck after being benefitted, I'll have to compare paychecks to see how much extra I'm paying in taxes with my "extra" income that I'll never see. Until then, I'm grateful that the HR representative was so informed, informative, and friendly, and I'm grateful that Amy and I are going to have benefits soon!