A new study co-authored by M.V. Lee Badgett, UMass professor of economics and CPPA director, finds that recognizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island would generate $1.2 million (in 2010 dollars) for the state over the three years following passage of the measure.
The net impact would result from savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefit programs and an increase in state marriage license fees and income and sales tax revenue.
The study also finds that Rhode Island’s resident same-sex couples and their guests would spend more than $5 million in wedding expenses over three years.
Badgett is also Research Director for the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law. The entire study can be read using this link at their website.