[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 ELIMINATE THE MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY NOW

  (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker. I have often asked from the well of the 
House a basic question. That is, is it right, is it fair, that married 
working couples with two incomes pay higher taxes just because they are 
married? I have often asked, is it fair, is it right, that 21 million 
married working couples pay $1,400 more on average in higher taxes just 
because they are married?
  Meet Michelle and Shad Hallihan, two Joliett school teachers, young 
people just starting a family, just had a baby. They suffer the 
marriage tax penalty just like 21 million other married working 
couples.
  It is an issue of fairness, an issue of difference between right and 
wrong. The end of July, this House and the Senate voted to eliminate 
the marriage tax penalty for a majority of those who suffer it, 
benefiting over 21 million married working couples.
  The President has an important choice. Is he going to help families 
like Michelle and Shad Hallihan, 42 million Americans who suffer the 
marriage tax penalty, or is he going to practice partisan politics?
  I hope the President will join with us in a bipartisan effort to 
eliminate the marriage tax penalty by signing into law the Financial 
Freedom Act. Let us eliminate the marriage tax penalty.

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