[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 277
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6
[Report No. 106-493]
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage
penalty by providing that the income tax rate bracket amounts, and the
amount of the standard deduction, for joint returns shall be twice the
amounts applicable to unmarried individuals.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 10, 1999
Mr. Weller (for himself, Mr. McIntosh, Ms. Danner, Mr. Riley, Mr.
Herger, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Armey, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Baker, Mr. Ballenger,
Mr. Barcia, Mr. Barr of Georgia, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, Mr. Barton
of Texas, Mr. Barrett of Nebraska, Mr. Bereuter, Ms. Biggert, Mr.
Bilirakis, Mr. Bliley, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Boehner, Mr.
Bonilla, Mrs. Bono, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Burton of
Indiana, Mr. Burr of North Carolina, Mr. Buyer, Mr. Calvert, Mr.
Cannon, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Chambliss, Mrs. Chenoweth, Mr. Clement, Mr.
Coble, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Collins, Mr. Cooksey, Mr. Cox, Mr. Crane, Mrs.
Cubin, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Davis of Virginia, Mr. Deal of Georgia, Mr.
Diaz-Balart, Mr. Dickey, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Duncan, Ms.
Dunn, Mr. DeMint, Mr. Ehrlich, Mr. English, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Ewing,
Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Foley, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Fossella, Mrs. Fowler, Mr.
Gekas, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Goode,
Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Goodling, Mr. Goss, Ms. Granger, Mr. Green of
Wisconsin, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Hall of Texas, Mr.
Hastings of Washington, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Hayworth, Mr.
Hefley, Mr. Hill of Montana, Mr. Hilleary, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. Horn, Mr.
Hostettler, Mr. Hulshof, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Istook, Mr.
Jenkins, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mrs.
Kelly, Mr. King, Mr. Knollenberg, Mr. Kolbe, Mr. Kuykendall, Mr.
Largent, Mr. Latham, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Lazio, Mr. Leach, Mr. Lewis of
Kentucky, Mr. Linder, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Lucas of
Oklahoma, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Metcalf, Mr. Mica, Mr. Miller of Florida,
Mrs. Myrick, Mr. McCollum, Mr. McCrery, Mr. McHugh, Mr. McInnis, Mr.
McIntyre, Mr. McKeon, Mr. Ney, Mr. Nethercutt, Mr. Norwood, Mr. Nussle,
Mr. Ose, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Packard, Mr. Paul, Mr. Pease, Mr. Petri, Mr.
Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Pombo, Mr.
Porter, Mr. Portman, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Radanovich, Mr. Ramstad,
Mr. Regula, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Roemer, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Rogers, Mrs.
Roukema, Mr. Royce, Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. Ryun of Kansas, Mr.
Salmon, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Scarborough, Mr. Schaffer, Mr. Sensenbrenner,
Mr. Sessions, Mr. Shays, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Sherwood, Mr.
Shows, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Skeen, Mr. Skelton, Mr. Smith of
New Jersey, Mr. Smith of Texas, Mr. Souder, Mr. Spence, Mr. Stearns,
Mr. Stump, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Talent, Mr. Tancredo, Mrs.
Tauscher, Mr. Tauzin, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Terry, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. Thune, Mr. Upton, Mr. Walden, Mr. Wamp,
Mr. Watkins, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, Mr. Weldon of Florida, Mr.
Whitfield, Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr. Callahan,
Mr. Graham, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Young of Florida, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Rogan, Ms.
Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Bass, Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr.
Cook, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Everett, Mr. Franks of New Jersey, Mr. Hyde, Mr.
Lewis of California, Mrs. Northup, Mr. Bilbray, Mr. Combest, Mr.
Gallegly, Mr. Kingston, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Stupak, Mr.
Condit, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Ford, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota,
Mr. Cramer, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Gary Miller of California, Mr. Kasich, Mr.
Moran of Virginia, and Mr. Rahall) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
February 7, 2000
Additional sponsors: Mr. Lucas of Kentucky, Mr. Taylor of North
Carolina, Mr. Hobson, Mr. Smith of Michigan, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Gordon,
Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Holt, Mr. Sandlin,
Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. Pickett, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Camp
February 7, 2000
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on
February 10, 1999]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage
penalty by providing that the income tax rate bracket amounts, and the
amount of the standard deduction, for joint returns shall be twice the
amounts 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, ETC.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Marriage Tax
Penalty Relief Act of 2000''.
(b) Section 15 Not To Apply.--No amendment made by this Act shall
be treated as a change in a rate of tax for purposes of section 15 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN STANDARD DEDUCTION.
(a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 63(c) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to standard deduction) is amended--
(1) by striking ``$5,000'' in subparagraph (A) and
inserting ``200 percent of the dollar amount in effect under
subparagraph (C) for the taxable year'',
(2) by adding ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (B),
(3) by striking ``in the case of'' and all that follows in
subparagraph (C) and inserting ``in any other case.'', and
(4) by striking subparagraph (D).
(b) Technical Amendments.--
(1) Subparagraph (B) of section 1(f)(6) of such Code is
amended by striking ``(other than with'' and all that follows
through ``shall be applied'' and inserting ``(other than with
respect to sections 63(c)(4) and 151(d)(4)(A)) shall be
applied''.
(2) Paragraph (4) of section 63(c) of such Code is amended
by adding at the end the following flush sentence:
``The preceding sentence shall not apply to the amount referred
to in paragraph (2)(A).''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000.
SEC. 3. PHASEOUT OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN 15-PERCENT BRACKET; REPEAL OF
REDUCTION OF REFUNDABLE TAX CREDITS.
(a) In General.--Subsection (f) of section 1 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to adjustments in tax tables so that
inflation will not result in tax increases) is amended by adding at the
end the following new paragraph:
``(8) Phaseout of marriage penalty in 15-percent bracket.--
``(A) In general.--With respect to taxable years
beginning after December 31, 2002, in prescribing the
tables under paragraph (1)--
``(i) the maximum taxable income in the
lowest rate bracket in the table contained in
subsection (a) (and the minimum taxable income
in the next higher taxable income bracket in
such table) shall be the applicable percentage
of the maximum taxable income in the lowest
rate bracket in the table contained in
subsection (c) (after any other adjustment
under this subsection), and
``(ii) the comparable taxable income
amounts in the table contained in subsection
(d) shall be \1/2\ of the amounts determined
under clause (i).
``(B) Applicable percentage.--For purposes of
subparagraph (A), the applicable percentage shall be
determined in accordance with the following table:
``For taxable years beginning
The applicable
in calendar year--
percentage is--
2003................................... 170.3
2004................................... 173.8
2005................................... 183.5
2006................................... 184.3
2007................................... 187.9
2008 and thereafter.................... 200.0.
``(C) Rounding.--If any amount determined under
subparagraph (A)(i) is not a multiple of $50, such
amount shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of
$50.''.
(b) Repeal of Reduction of Refundable Tax Credits.--
(1) Subsection (d) of section 24 of such Code is amended by
striking paragraph (2) and redesignating paragraph (3) as
paragraph (2).
(2) Section 32 of such Code is amended by striking
subsection (h).
(c) Technical Amendments.--
(1) Subparagraph (A) of section 1(f)(2) of such Code is
amended by inserting ``except as provided in paragraph (8),''
before ``by increasing''.
(2) The heading for subsection (f) of section 1 of such
Code is amended by inserting ``Phaseout of Marriage Penalty in
15-Percent Bracket;'' before ``Adjustments''.
(d) Effective Dates.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided by paragraph (2), the
amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years
beginning after December 31, 2002.
(2) Repeal of reduction of refundable tax credits.--The
amendments made by subsection (b) shall apply to taxable years
beginning after December 31, 2001.
SEC. 4. MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF FOR EARNED INCOME CREDIT.
(a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 32(b) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to percentages and amounts) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Amounts.--The earned'' and inserting
``Amounts.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the
earned'', and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(B) Joint returns.--In the case of a joint
return, the phaseout amount determined under
subparagraph (A) shall be increased by $2,000.''.
(b) Inflation Adjustment.--Paragraph (1)(B) of section 32(j) of
such Code (relating to inflation adjustments) is amended to read as
follows:
``(B) the cost-of-living adjustment determined
under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which
the taxable year begins, determined--
``(i) in the case of amounts in subsections
(b)(2)(A) and (i)(1), by substituting `calendar
year 1995' for `calendar year 1992' in
subparagraph (B) thereof, and
``(ii) in the case of the $2,000 amount in
subsection (b)(2)(B), by substituting `calendar
year 2000' for `calendar year 1992' in
subparagraph (B) of such section 1.''.
(c) Rounding.--Section 32(j)(2)(A) of such Code (relating to
rounding) is amended by striking ``subsection (b)(2)'' and inserting
``subsection (b)(2)(A) (after being increased under subparagraph (B)
thereof)''.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000.
Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to amend the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the marriage penalty by
providing for adjustments to the standard deduction, 15-percent
rate bracket, and earned income credit and to repeal the
reduction of the refundable tax credits.''.
Union Calendar No. 277
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6
[Report No. 106-493]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage
penalty by providing that the income tax rate bracket amounts, and the
amount of the standard deduction, for joint returns shall be twice the
amounts applicable to unmarried individuals.
_______________________________________________________________________
February 7, 2000
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed