Under the Nadler proposal, if passed, there likely would be at least some same-sex couples who are Ohio residents filing joint federal income taxes. Ohio state taxes ordinarily reference federal filings, but the state obviously would have to make some changes in its procedures to address this new situation.

It isn’t necessarily true that Ohio would have to make changes to their state filing procedures. I’m a Vermont resident in a civil union, and our Vermont state taxes are based on the federal tax return. Vermont did not make any changes to how the process works, and instead, expect residents to complete a federal return as if they were federally recognized as a couple, and use that (bogus) return for state filings. The non-joint federal return is what is actually filed with the feds. With that said, I have thought it was a less-than-equal system—we are expected to complete the federal return twice, which adds accounting costs for same-sex couples. Additionally, I’ve never been comfortable submitting a “let’s pretend” federal return to Vermont (again, the federal return is non-joint, and Vermont requires this make believe federal return).

There’s a great interview for those interested in DOMA repeal up right now on the Bay Area Reporter with Rep. Jerry Nadler. Talk of federal civil unions hasn’t really picked up all that much steam among either LGBT’s or Congress, but Californians wh…