[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3104 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3104

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that married 
  couples may file a combined return under which each spouse is taxed 
          using the rates applicable to unmarried individuals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 1998

   Mr. Riley (for himself, Mr. Salmon, Mr. Bachus, Mr. McIntosh, Mr. 
Cannon, Mr. Istook, Mr. Paul, Mr. King, Mr. Callahan, Mr. Aderholt, and 
  Mr. DeLay) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that married 
  couples may file a combined return under which each spouse is taxed 
          using the rates applicable to unmarried individuals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Marriage Protection and Fairness Act 
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. COMBINED RETURN TO WHICH UNMARRIED RATES APPLY.

    (a) In General.--Subpart B of part II of subchapter A of chapter 61 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to income tax returns) 
is amended by inserting after section 6013 the following new section:

``SEC. 6013A. COMBINED RETURN WITH SEPARATE RATES.

    ``(a) General Rule.--A husband and wife may make a combined return 
of income taxes under subtitle A under which--
            ``(1) a separate taxable income is determined for each 
        spouse by applying the rules provided in this section, and
            ``(2) the tax imposed by section 1 is the aggregate amount 
        resulting from applying the separate rates set forth in section 
        1(c) to each such taxable income.
    ``(b) Determination of Taxable Income.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(1), the 
        taxable income for each spouse shall be one-half of the taxable 
        income computed as if the spouses were filing a joint return.
            ``(2) Nonitemizers.--For purposes of paragraph (1), if an 
        election is made not to itemize deductions for any taxable 
        year, the basic standard deduction shall be equal to the amount 
        which is twice the basic standard deduction under section 
        63(c)(2)(C) for the taxable year.
    ``(c) Treatment of Credits.--Credits shall be determined (and 
applied against the joint liability of the couple for tax) as if the 
spouses had filed a joint return.
    ``(d) Treatment as Joint Return.--Except as otherwise provided in 
this section or in the regulations prescribed hereunder, for purposes 
of this title (other than sections 1 and 63(c)) a combined return under 
this section shall be treated as a joint return.
    ``(e) Regulations.--The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations 
as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out this section.''
    (b) Unmarried Rate Made Applicable.--So much of subsection (c) of 
section 1 of such Code as precedes the table is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(c) Separate or Unmarried Return Rate.--There is hereby imposed 
on the taxable income of every individual (other than a married 
individual (as defined in section 7703) filing a joint return or a 
separate return, a surviving spouse as defined in section 2(a), or a 
head of household as defined in section 2(b)) a tax determined in 
accordance with the following table:''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart B of 
part II of subchapter A of chapter 61 of such Code is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to section 6013 the following:

                              ``Sec. 6013A. Combined return with 
                                        separate rates.''
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>