[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 284 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 284

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage 
 penalty by increasing the standard deduction for married individuals 
  filing joint returns to twice the standard deduction for unmarried 
                              individuals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 21, 1999

  Mr. McCain introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage 
 penalty by increasing the standard deduction for married individuals 
  filing joint returns to twice the standard deduction for 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; AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Marriage Penalty 
Elimination Act of 1999''.
    (b) Elimination of 1986 Code.--Except as otherwise expressly 
provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in 
terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, 
the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other 
provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN STANDARD DEDUCTION.

    (a) In General.--Section 63(c) (relating to standard deduction) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) Elimination of marriage penalty for joint filers.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of a joint return or 
                a surviving spouse (as defined in section 2(a)), the 
                basic standard deduction under paragraph (2)(A) shall 
                be increased by an amount equal to the applicable 
                percentage of the excess of--
                            ``(i) 200 percent of the basic standard 
                        deduction in effect for the taxable year under 
                        paragraph (2)(C), over
                            ``(ii) the basic standard deduction in 
                        effect for the taxable year under paragraph 
                        (2)(A) (without regard to this paragraph).
                    ``(B) Applicable percentage.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), the applicable percentage shall be 
                determined as follows:

``For taxable years beginning in    The applicable percentage is:
        calendar year:
    1999..........................................                  20 
    2000..........................................                  40 
    2001..........................................                  60 
    2002..........................................                  80 
    2003 and thereafter...........................               100.''
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 63(c)(2)(A) is amended by 
inserting ``except as provided in paragraph (7),'' before ``$5,000''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1998.
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