# Should Polygamy Be Illegal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-polygamy-be-illegal/36529>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 11, 2000, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-polygamy-be-illegal/36529 "2000-10-11T12:49:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-polygamy-be-illegal/36529/61 "2000-12-03T02:22:53Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by redtail23 \*  
> Daniel - I am quite aware of the SCOTUS stance on this. They also ruled slavery to be legal at one point in time and then reversed that ruling later.

No, they didn’t.  
Danimal

> [@](#):
>
> There is at least one situation where I absolutely believe polygamy should be legally recognized in the U.S.: when an African immigrant with multiple spouses comes to this country. It would be indecent to require, or even to permit, a man to dump all but one of the wives who depend on him and whom he has promised to support, in consequence of his moving to this country.

Wouldn’t this basically make polygamy legal? After all, anyone could move to a country where it’s legal, get married, then come back.

I see another problem with polygamy that hasn’t been mentioned: how would the tax laws work? Currently, you can have your spouse act as an employeee, but he/she doesn’t have to pay income taxes (since the money he/she receives has already been taxed.) What if the entire Microsoft Corporation declared itself to be a “family unit”? Would none of the employees have to pay income taxes?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-polygamy-be-illegal/36529/62 "2000-12-03T03:04:40Z")

</div>

I offer the following link:  
[http://www.polygamy.org/](http://www.polygamy.org/)  
Tapestry of Polygamy, a support group for former wives of polygamists. It’s VERY disturbing to read about some of this stuff. I saw a special on polygamy on A&E, um, Investigative Reports. What I saw made me ill, for the most part.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-polygamy-be-illegal/36529.md?page=3)