[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 87 (Monday, July 10, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H5724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, many of us over the last several years have 
asked a very basic and fundamental question, and this question is going 
to be answered again this week, and that is: Is it right, is it fair 
that under our Tax Code 25 million married working couples pay on 
average $1400 more in higher taxes just because they are married?
  Is it right, is it fair that two people who joined together in holy 
matrimony, who both happen to work, are forced to pay higher taxes if 
they choose to get married? Today, the only way to avoid the marriage 
tax penalty if both the husband and wife work in the workforce is 
either choose not to get married or to get divorced. That is just 
wrong, that 25 million married working couples, 50 million Americans, 
pay higher taxes just because they are married. It is wrong, I believe, 
and I know many in this House do believe that it is wrong, that we 
punish society's most basic institution, marriage, with higher taxes. 
That is just unfair.
  Let me introduce to my colleagues Shad and Michelle Hallihan, two 
public school teachers, from Joliet, Illinois. Shad and Michelle chose 
to get married a couple of years ago. They are both in the workforce. 
They just had a child this past year, a new baby. They pay the average 
marriage tax penalty of $1400. They knew that going into getting 
married, that they were going to pay more in taxes, but they chose to 
still get married.
  I believe it is wrong. They pay $1400 more in higher taxes. In 
Joliet, Illinois, which is a south suburban community southwest of 
Chicago, $1400 for Shad and Michelle Hallihan, the average marriage tax 
penalty, is one year's tuition at Joliet Junior College, our local 
community college. It is 3 months of day care for their child. It is 
just wrong they have to pay more in taxes just because they are 
married.
  Now, the marriage tax penalty comes into play when two people marry 
and they are both in the workforce and have two incomes, because under 
our Tax Code they file jointly, which means they combine their incomes. 
So in the case of Shad and Michelle, had they chose to stay single and 
just live together, they would each file as singles and they would each 
pay in the 15 percent tax bracket. But because they chose to get 
married, their combined income pushes them into the 28 percent tax 
bracket, so they get stuck with a higher tax bill just because they 
chose to get married.
  Now, we believe in this House, and it is clearly one of the top 
agenda items for House Republicans, that we should bring about some tax 
fairness by eliminating the marriage tax penalty. I am proud that 
earlier this year every House Republican, and 48 Democrats who broke 
with their leadership, voted to wipe out the marriage tax penalty for 
25 million married working couples. Unfortunately, Senator Daschle and 
the Senate Democrats used parliamentary procedures to block action on 
that legislation, and we have now had to go through the budget process, 
or so-called reconciliation, which is a word few people know the 
meaning of, but it allows us to bring up a bill with a simple majority 
vote.

                              {time}  2130

  With that ability, this week both the House and Senate are going to 
be voting on legislation which will wipe out the marriage tax penalty 
for 25 million married working couples.
  Now, some on the other side and Al Gore and a few others say, Well, 
let's give just a little bit of marriage tax relief so we can say we 
are for it. Al Gore says we should only give marriage tax relief to 
those who do not itemize their taxes, those who use the standard 
deduction.
  Well, we want to help those who do itemize, as well as those who do 
not itemize. If you think about it, most middle-class families, most 
middle-class couples, itemize their taxes because they are homeowners. 
Think about that. If you are a homeowner, those who oppose the bill we 
are going to be passing this week, because they do not want to help 
homeowners and they do not want to help those who itemize taxes, 
because they say they are rich, only rich people own homes today, 
according to Al Gore and other people.
  Well, the bottom line is, the only way we can help Shad and Michelle 
Hallihan is if we pass the legislation we are going to pass this week, 
legislation that doubles the standard deduction for joint filers to 
twice that of singles, so we wipe out the marriage tax penalty for 
those who do not itemize, and then for those who do itemize, such as 
homeowners, or those who take the charitable deduction because they 
give to their institutions of faith or charity, we also widen the 15 
percent bracket to twice that for joint filers to twice that of 
singles. That will eliminate essentially the marriage tax penalty for 
Shad and Michelle Hallihan.
  Think about it. If we eliminate the marriage tax penalty, which we 
are going to vote this week to do, for 25 million married working 
couples, 50 million Americans, people like Shad and Michelle will have 
that extra $1,400 to take care of their child. That is 3 months of 
daycare. It is a year's tuition at Joliet Junior College if they want 
to continue to improve their education.
  I want to extend an invitation to my friends on the Democratic side 
to join with us. Let us eliminate the marriage tax penalty this week.

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