Empty Pockets

photo credit: flickr 

Being single can cost you!  According to a new report, being single costs a woman making $40,000 a year more than $480,000 throughout her lifetime, in the form of income taxes, social security, IRAs, housing and health expenses.  For a single woman making $80,000, that lifetime cost goes up to more than a million bucks.  It’s a well-known fact that the U.S. Federal Tax Code puts singletons at a major financial disadvantage (these inequities are often used to argue in support of gay marriage).  There are more than a thousand laws that favor married couples by providing them fiscal benefits.  And the government isn’t the only one guilty of discriminating against singles- private companies do it, too.