[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 13 (Monday, February 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H345-H346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PASSAGE OF THE MARRIAGE TAX ELIMINATION ACT, A GREAT VALENTINE'S DAY 
                                PRESENT

  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, of course today is known as Valentine's Day. 
It is a great day for those who care for one another. It is a day of 
the heart. This past week we had some important action in this House of 
Representatives which affect 28 million married working couples who 
because of their heart pay higher taxes.
  The American people have often told me that they are frustrated; they 
think it is unfair that 21 million married working couples on average 
pay $1,400 more in higher taxes just because they are married.
  That really is a fundamental question. Is it right, is it fair, that 
under our Tax Code, 25 million married working couples on average pay 
$1,400 more?
  Now, I represent the south side of Chicago and the south suburbs in 
Illinois, and folks back home they tell me that $1,400 is a year's 
tuition for a nursing student at a community college in Illinois; it is 
a washer and a dryer; it is several months' worth of car payments; it 
is 3 months of day care, but it is higher taxes, money that is taken 
from married couples, just because they are married.
  That is wrong. Of course, Valentine's Day is today and today is the 
day that we can celebrate the fact that the House passed H.R. 6, 
legislation wiping out the marriage tax penalty for 25 million married 
working couples. Let me explain how the marriage tax penalty works.
  If one is single, of course, they file as a single person; but when 
they get married, they file jointly. They combine their incomes. The 
way our Tax Code works is if a couple is a machinist and a 
schoolteacher with identical incomes, say a machinist makes $31,000, if 
he stays single he pays in the 15 percent tax bracket; but if he meets 
and marries a public school teacher with an identical income of 
$31,000, their $62,000 combined income pushes them into the 28 percent 
tax bracket. They pay the average tax penalty of almost $1,400 just 
because they got married.
  Right now the Tax Code discourages marriage by punishing it with 
financial penalties. That is wrong.
  This past week, the House passed H.R. 6, and I want to commend the 
leadership of the House, Speaker Dennis Hastert, for moving a stand-
alone, clean, marriage tax elimination legislation.
  There is no other extraneous provisions. There are no excuses like 
the President used last year when he vetoed our effort to wipe out the 
marriage tax penalty. We deal with one issue, that is, wiping out the 
marriage tax penalty for 25 million married working couples.

  I would point out that H.R. 6 helps married couples in a number of 
ways. If one looks at who pays the marriage tax penalty, one half of 
married couples

[[Page H346]]

itemize their taxes because they own a home or give money to church or 
synagogue or charity or have education expenses. The other half do not. 
So we help both in the legislation that we passed. We double the 
standard deduction for those who do not itemize for joint filers to 
twice that of singles and for those who do itemize, and of course most 
middle-class families own their home so they are required to itemize 
their taxes. So we help them by widening the 15 percent bracket so that 
joint filers can earn twice as much in the 15 percent bracket as a 
single filer. It is fair that way.
  We also help, I would point out, the working poor with addressing the 
marriage penalty that is in the eligibility for joint filers for 
married couples for the earned income credit to help the working poor. 
So we double the standard deduction. We widen the 15 percent bracket. 
We address the earned income credit marriage penalty, and we help 25 
million married working couples by being fair.
  It is time that we make the Tax Code fair. It is time that we make 
the Tax Code marriage neutral so that one is not punished when they get 
married. Of course, I am proud our proposal does not raise taxes on 
anyone else in order to wipe out the marriage tax penalty.
  So two single people, two married people, no one pays more taxes than 
the other. It is the fair way to do it; and I am proud that 268 Members 
of this House, every Republican and fortunately 48 Democrats, broke 
from their leadership and supported our effort to wipe out the marriage 
tax penalty. That is progress, tremendous momentum. An overwhelming 
majority of the House supported our effort to wipe out the marriage tax 
penalty, an issue of fairness for 25 million married working couples.
  I am concerned, though. I have been told that there are some in the 
Senate who want to load up the marriage tax elimination effort. They 
want to put poison pills, and they want to put other extraneous 
provisions on this bill. My hope is we can avoid that. My hope is that 
we can convince the Senate to keep it a stand-alone, clean, marriage 
tax elimination bill. That is the best approach. That way it is fair. 
There are no excuses for the President to veto it this time. He said 
during the State of the Union that he thought we should address the 
marriage tax penalty. We want the President to keep his word. We want 
to give the President the opportunity to do that by sending him a 
stand-alone bill.
  There is no need for partisan politics. We had a bipartisan vote when 
this legislation passed the House this past week; and what better gift 
to give 25 million married working couples on this Valentine's Day then 
enactment into law the Marriage Tax Penalty Act.

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