New Report shows Utah to gain financially with legalization of same-sex marriage

A new report from the Williams Institute, a progressive think tank on the campus of UCLA, shows that Utah stands to gain significant financial advantage, increase tourism and create jobs if it were, in fact, to legalize same-sex marriage. The authors, E.G. Fitzgerald, Christy Mallory and M.V. Lee Badgett, have released a report entitled “Estimating the Economic Boost of Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in Utah.”

Their summary predicts that 1,995 in-state same-sex couples would choose to marry in the three years following the removal of the ban on same-sex marriage; that total spending on wedding arrangements and tourism by resident same-sex couples and their guests would add an estimated $15.5 million to the state and local economies of Utah with a $10 million boost in the first year alone; that $1 million in sales tax revenue would fall into state and local coffers and the Utah economy would add approximately 268 full- and part-time jobs.

The report also notes that Utah would likely benefit from an influx of couples arriving from other states. For example, data shows that couples do, in fact, drive in from other states. In Iowa, where same-sex marriage was legalized in 2009, approximately one-third of the same-sex couples who married in the first year came from five states directly bordering Iowa.

Spending on wedding arrangements would also see a sharp uptick. Following the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples, Massachusetts, New York , Connecticut and Washington all reported a rise in wedding spending after marriage rights were extended to same-sex couples. According to The Wedding Report, the average couple in Utah spent $24,732 on their wedding. This number would probably be significantly lower, reports the Williams Institute, because of greater opposition to and support for legalized same-sex marriage.