Nixon: Missouri to accept joint state tax returns for same sex couples

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — At a press conference today, democratic Gov. Jay Nixon announced he was issuing an executive order directing the state Department of Revenue to accept jointly filed tax returns from all couples, including same-sex marriages.

Last summer the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service ruled that legally married same-sex couples would be treated as married for federal tax services, no matter where they lived.

Nixon said that if a same-sex couple were legally married in Illinois but had income in Missouri, the coupled would be able to file a joint tax return for their state taxes similar to their joint federal tax filings, as well as saying that his position on gay marriage has “changed.”

“After reflection, I think like many Americans, I’m starting to see these issues differently and think differently about things like discrimination,” Nixon told reporters. “If people want to get married, they should be able to get married.

Nixon said the ruling would not affect Missouri law, which currently prohibits same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment, and said he hoped that Missouri voters would eventually choose to reexamine the issue

Nixon called “the only appropriate course of action, given Missouri statutes and the ruling by the U.S. Department of Treasury.”