[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H2059-H2060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              UNFAIRNESS IN TAX CODE: MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY

  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I represent a very, very diverse district. I 
represent the south side of Chicago, the south suburbs, as well as a 
lot of bedroom and rural communities southwest of the city of Chicago. 
There is a common series of questions being asked, and these questions 
really illustrate why passage of the Marriage Tax Elimination Act is so 
very important to this Congress.
  These questions are pretty simple, and that is do Americans feel that 
it is fair that a married working couple with two incomes pays more in 
taxes just because they are married? Do Americans feel that it is fair 
that 21 million married working couples pay an average of $1,400 more 
in higher taxes just because they are married than an identical couple 
that lives together outside of marriage? Do Americans feel it is fair 
that our Tax Code actually provides an incentive to get divorced?
  It is clear that the marriage tax penalty is not only wrong; frankly, 
it is immoral that our Tax Code punishes our society's most basic 
institution.
  This past year, the Congressional Budget Office in a report detailed 
the facts that the marriage penalty is suffered by 21 million married 
working couples to the tune of $1,400 each. Of course, that tax is 
caused because when a married couple chooses to get married, they file 
jointly, and their combined tax income pushes them into a higher tax 
bracket, of course, causing that marriage tax penalty.
  Let me give you an example of a married couple in the 11th 
Congressional District in the south suburbs of Chicago. This particular 
gentleman is a machinist who works at Caterpillar making the heavy 
equipment that builds our roads and bridges. This particular machinist 
makes $30,500 a year.
  If he is single, after standard deductions and exemptions on his 
taxes, he pays the 15 percent rate. But say he meets a gal, she is a 
tenured schoolteacher at the Joliet public schools. She is making an 
identical amount of money, $30,500 a year. They choose to get married.
  Under our current Tax Code, because of the way our Tax Code is 
currently structured, as a married couple with two incomes, they file 
jointly, they are pushed into a higher tax bracket producing almost 
$1,400 more in taxes, just because they chose to get married.
  That is wrong. If you think about it for this married couple in 
Joliet, this machinist and this schoolteacher, $1,400 is a lot of 
money. It is real money for real people. $1,400 is one year's tuition 
at Joliet Junior College. It is several months of car payments. It is 3 
months' worth of child care in a local day care center in Joliet. That 
is important to working families.
  Of course, the President has talked about helping working couples 
with expanding the child care tax credit, and that is a good idea. Of 
course, we should look at what that means in comparing expanding the 
child tax credit to eliminating the marriage penalty, and how this 
machinist and schoolteacher will benefit.
  Under the Marriage Tax Elimination Act, of course, this machinist and 
schoolteacher will save $1,400 by eliminating the marriage tax penalty. 
Under

[[Page H2060]]

the President's proposal on child care, they would be able to save $358 
in higher take-home pay.
  So the question is, which is better? One thousand four hundred 
dollars, which is 3 months' worth of day care in Joliet, or the 
President's proposal for $358, which is 3 weeks? Which is better, three 
weeks or three months, when it comes to helping working families?
  Clearly, elimination of the marriage tax penalty will help 21 million 
married working couples. I am pleased to tell you the Marriage Tax 
Elimination Act now has 238 cosponsors. And what is the bottom line? We 
should make elimination of the marriage tax penalty our Number 1 
priority as we work to provide greater tax relief and work to help 
working families keep more of what they earn, because we believe that 
working families should be able to keep more of what they earn, because 
you can spend it so much better back home than we can for you here in 
Washington.
  When the Tax Code is unfair, just as the marriage tax penalty is 
unfair, we should eliminate it. We should eliminate it now.
  If we look back at this Congress over the last several years, we have 
helped families in 1996 with the adoption tax credit to help families 
provide a loving home for a child in need of adoption. In 1997, we, of 
course, created the $500 per child tax credit, which is going to 
benefit 3 million Illinois children $1.50 in higher take-home pay, that 
will stay in Illinois rather than come to Washington.
  In 1998, let us stop punishing marriage. In 1998, let's help this 
machinist and this schoolteacher in Joliet, and the other 21 million 
working married couples with two incomes who pay more in taxes just 
because they are married.
  Mr. Speaker, let us stop punishing marriage. Let us make elimination 
of the marriage tax penalty our top priority, the centerpiece of this 
year's budget agreement. Let us eliminate the marriage tax penalty and 
let us eliminate it now.

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