Congressional Record, Volume 149 Issue 83 (Monday, June 9, 2003)

[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 83 (Monday, June 9, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[Congressional Record: June 9, 2003 (House)]
[Page H5048]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr09jn03-43]

JOBS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH PACKAGE HELPS MARRIED COUPLES

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is recognized
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I would really like today to take a few
minutes to celebrate the enactment into law of the Jobs and Economic
Growth Package legislation that was passed by a majority of this House
and a majority of the Senate and signed into law just 2 weeks ago,
legislation that will help every Federal income tax payer. It will help
revitalize our economy. It takes the approach that if you put extra
money in the pocketbooks of consumers, they will have more money to
spend to meet their families' needs and also to give incentives to
businesses to invest. It will create jobs.
One of the benefits of this package is it not only helps everybody
who pays Federal income taxes, but also 3 million low-income families
who 2 weeks ago paid income taxes will no longer be required to pay
income taxes because we lowered the rate so they no longer have to pay
Federal income taxes benefiting 3 million low-income taxpayers.
I would like to focus on one provision that was a key and central
part of the Jobs and Economic Growth Package and is really a provision
that not only put extra money in the pocketbooks of families, but it
also brought fairness now, fairness this year to the Tax Code, and that
is the provision which wipes out the marriage tax penalty this year for
42 million married working couples. As one of those who has raised this
issue over the last several years, I congratulate President Bush for
signing this legislation into law. It is really an issue of fairness.
Is it right, is it fair that under our Tax Code 42 million married
working couples on average paid $1,700 more in higher taxes just
because they were married?
Think about that. Husband and wife, they are both in the workforce,
they file their taxes jointly when they are married; and because of
that, our Tax Code previously pushed them into a higher tax bracket and
required them on average to pay $1,700 more. If you think about it,
that is a lot of money.
Take Jose and Magdalena Castillo of Joliet, Illinois. A working
family in Joliet. They work hard. They have two children, Eduardo and
Carolina. They are construction workers. For this family, for Jose and
Magdalena Castillo, their marriage tax penalty was about $1,450. Now
here in Washington, for some that is chump change; and they would
rather spend the Castillos' income here in Washington rather than allow
the Castillo family to keep more of what they earn to meet their needs.
If you think about it, $1,450, that is a semester's worth of tuition
at Joliet Junior College. It is several months of day care for Eduardo
and Carolina while mom and dad are at work. It is several months' worth
of car payments. It is a mortgage payment or two for the average family
in Joliet, Illinois. So by eliminating the marriage tax penalty, we
really help the Castillo family.
So I want to thank the President for signing into law the Jobs and
Economic Growth Package because as a result of the President signing
the Jobs and Economic Growth Package into law, 42 million married
working couples like Jose and Magdalena Castillo of Joliet, Illinois,
they no longer pay the marriage tax penalty this year.
We help married couples in two ways. There are two kind of taxpayers.
Those who itemize and those who do not itemize. If you own a home, if
you donate to your church or charity or synagogue, you probably
itemize. And the way we benefit those who are married and are both in
the workforce and who have suffered the marriage tax penalty before is
we widen the 15 percent tax bracket so that a two-earner couple, a
married couple, could earn twice as much as one single person. And by
earning twice as much, they would still stay in that 15 percent tax
bracket. So we essentially eliminate the marriage tax penalty for 42
million couples.
For those who do not itemize, we have doubled the standard
deductions. If you do not itemize, you use the standard deduction; and
we make the standard deduction twice that for joint filers, for married
couples. Twice the size of a single filer's standard deduction.
The bottom line is, we eliminate the marriage tax penalty for 42
million married working couples. Whether they itemize their taxes or
whether they do not itemize their taxes, we eliminate their marriage
tax penalty. And for a married couple like Jose and Magdalena Castillo,
who like 42 million other married couples across this country suffer
the marriage tax penalty, they will have extra money that really,
rightfully should be theirs. The Castillo family should not have to pay
higher taxes just because they chose to get married. It is not right.
It is not fair. And really it punishes society's most basic
institution, to punish marriage.
I want to thank the President. I want to thank the majority of this
Congress for passing the Jobs and Economic Growth Package. And we
should be celebrating the fact that 42 million married working couples
will see their marriage penalty tax eliminated this year.

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