Apr 06 2009
Study: Marriage ruling will help Iowa finances
There are very few immutable rules to remember when it comes to media consumption:
Rule 1: Don’t believe everything you read.
Rule 2: Don’t believe anything you read, when the headline begins: ” Study: … ”
Case in point, this bit of news from the CR Gazette:
By Terry McCoy
News correspondentA University of California at Los Angeles study says Friday’s Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage may generate $5.3 million annually for the state budget.
That figure is based on an analysis of how much money would be saved in Iowa’s public assistance expenditures, the amount raised by couples paying higher taxes and the increase in sales tax revenues from wedding planning.
The increase in “sales tax revenues from wedding planning” is directly proportional to how “fabulous” the wedding is.
Just in case anyone gets the idea that the UCLA study is trying to pull a fast one by simply making up numbers, the study admits that the $5.3 million figure is not concrete. It could be more!
Still, the study says, these numbers aren’t concrete. Iowa could make even more than $5.3 million.
“Evidence suggests that there are significantly more same-sex couples in the state than the U.S. Census Bureau reports,” the study states. “If so, the net gains to the state will be even greater.
Its not just the UCLA study that is predicting a windfall from this ruling according to the article “local experts” also predict that the decision will foster economic growth in Iowa.
Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids may begin hosting more weddings, said Mel Andringa, the producing director. He expects a sharp increase in the number of requests his organization gets.
Every spring, Andringa said, he receives frantic calls from people searching for a place to exchange vows and celebrate. And that was when marriage was just for heterosexual couples.
So for Andringa, the state Supreme Court’s ruling means one thing: cha-ching.
“We’re already hiring an Elvis impersonator so it’ll be like Vegas,” Andringa said.
John Carlson from the DM Register, sees the same silver lining and suggests that conservatives should suck it up and find a way to profit from the decision.
The Chicago Tribune was reporting Friday that bunches of gay couples from Illinois will soon be showing up in Iowa, presumably ready to spend money.
“People have traveled to Spain, they’ve traveled to Mexico and California and Massachusetts and Connecticut to be married,” said the director of a gay rights organization in Illinois. “Now they can just jump over the border. Just a couple hour drive and they can go into a state and be married.”
Hotels and restaurants in Davenport, Dubuque, Clinton and Burlington will be jammed.
Imagine, if you will, Fleur Drive or maybe Southwest Ninth Street in Des Moines, lined with flashy new wedding chapels, all there to serve the thousands of visitors arriving on all those additional flights sure to be heading to Des Moines.
For now, keep an eye on that abandoned muffler shop next to the airport. It’s about to sprout a steeple.
