[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF

  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, in all likelihood tomorrow we will be 
sending the President a bill to eliminate the marriage penalty for most 
Americans. I urge the President to sign this bill.
  This bill will provide tax relief for millions of married couples. 
For individuals or for couples who have incomes of $52,000, they will 
see their take-home pay increase by a total of about $1,400. Some of my 
colleagues on the Democratic side have said that is a tax cut for the 
wealthy. It is not. I don't consider a married couple who have an 
income of $52,000 particularly wealthy. We want to eliminate the 
marriage penalty and allow them to keep more of their own money. They 
should not be taxed at a 28-percent rate.
  That is what our bill does. Our bill says we should double the 15-
percent rate on individuals for couples. Right now, people who have 
taxable incomes of $26,000 as individuals pay taxes at 15 percent. We 
are saying married couples should pay taxes at 15 percent at twice that 
amount, up to $52,000. That only makes sense. If you tax individuals at 
15 percent up to $26,000, for couples it should be double that amount, 
$52,000, except that present law taxes couples at 28 percent beginning 
at $43,000.
  So if couples have taxable income above $43,000, they start paying 
28-percent income tax. If they happen to be self-employed on top of 
that, it is 28 percent plus 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare 
tax. That is 43.3 percent. In most States, they have income tax rates 
of another 6 or 7 percent, State income tax. That is over 50 percent 
for a couple with taxable income of $44-$45-$50,000. That is too high.
  Congress has passed a bill--both the House and the Senate, identical 
bills--that says let's double that 15-percent rate for couples, the 
individual rate for couples, so the taxable income will be 15 percent 
up to $52,000, 28 percent above that.
  Again, I urge the President to sign it. It is not tax cuts for the 
wealthy; it is tax cuts for all married couples who have incomes of 
$43,000, $52,000, or $60,000. The amount of benefit, maximum benefit, 
is about $1,400.
  I urge the President to sign that bill.

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