Chicago Magazine has an article posted that talks about how Iowa is benefiting financially from being the only state in the Midwest that has legalized same-sex marriage. Most of that out-of-state money is coming from Illinois, which currently offers civil unions to gay and lesbian couples but is strongly leaning towards marriage equality during the coming legislative session.
According to Chicago Magazine, a group called the Williams Institute at UCLA looked into the economic boost of marriage equality on the state of Iowa and confirmed that Iowa is definitely benefiting financially through sales taxation from our marriage inequality neighbors. Check out this 2011 graph to see where tax revenue from gay marriages is coming from and you will notice that a good chunk of it is not coming from Iowa itself:
Chicago Magazine noted how much of that is coming from Illinois itself:
According to Chicago Magazine, a group called the Williams Institute at UCLA looked into the economic boost of marriage equality on the state of Iowa and confirmed that Iowa is definitely benefiting financially through sales taxation from our marriage inequality neighbors. Check out this 2011 graph to see where tax revenue from gay marriages is coming from and you will notice that a good chunk of it is not coming from Iowa itself:
 |
| (source) |
Total non-resident tax revenue: $333,404 to $415,688. Assuming 17 percent of that came from Illinois residents (who pay a lower sales tax in Iowa), that's about $56,700 to $70,700. It's not a lot, but love can buy you a little money.All of this is good for Iowa -- now. If Illinois legalizes marriage equality, I could see people flying in from Florida or Texas opting for Chicago over Des Moines or Iowa City, but what do I know?