[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 460]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   ELIMINATE THE MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago my wife, Libby, and I walked 
down the aisle. And we were lucky, we had a lot of family and friends 
there, who showered us with gifts. My wife seemed to have written thank 
you notes for a month or two afterwards trying to catch up.
  Now, we got married in October. Well, come April we got a little 
notice from Uncle Sam. It was not a wedding gift, though. It was the 
marriage tax penalty. Because we decided not to live with each other; 
because we decided to get married, we had to pay more money. And just 
like Michelle and Shad Hallihan in Joliet, Illinois, we in Savannah, 
Georgia, had to pay extra.
  Now, as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) said, Michelle is 
pregnant. She is going to have a baby. Uncle Sam is going to take away 
about $1,000 worth of diapers because of the marriage tax penalty. But 
they will also be having to buy diaper changing tables and cribs and 
all kinds of other things, such as car seats and so forth. Why? Because 
they are doing the right thing. Because they are making a lifetime 
commitment.
  Because they are going to become property taxpayers, to send their 
kids to the schools, they are going to contribute to the United Way and 
to all the charities and the churches, for that Uncle Sam is penalizing 
them. Common sense says we need marriage tax relief. It is a good bill. 
I hope that we can pass it soon.




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