[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13346]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            MARRIED COUPLES TO BENEFIT FROM RECENT TAX CUTS

  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, 42 million married couples got good news 
this past week when President Bush signed into law the jobs and 
economic growth package, legislation that wiped out the marriage tax 
penalty for 42 million married working couples this year.
  This is an issue that we have been working so hard over the last 
several years to address, and that is fairness in the Tax Code 
affecting married couples. In the case of a husband and wife who are 
both in the workforce, because they file their taxes jointly, combining 
their income, in many cases, most cases, all cases, they are pushed 
into a higher tax bracket. That average married tax penalty for 42 
million couples is almost $1,700 a year.
  Well, thanks to the President's stroke of a pen just a few days ago, 
the marriage tax penalty for the vast majority of those who suffered, 
almost all of them, will be eliminated this year.

                              {time}  1930

  Let me give an example of a married couple in the district that I 
represent, the south suburbs of Chicago, the town of Joliet, Jose and 
Magdalena Castillo and their son, Eduardo, and their little daughter, 
Carolina. They are an example of a typical married couple in Illinois 
who suffer the marriage tax penalty.
  In fact, for Jose and Magdalena, they are both construction workers. 
They are laborers, and they work hard for a living. For them, the 
marriage tax penalty is about $1,400 each year. Thanks to this 
legislation, the jobs and economic growth package, 42 million married 
couples just like Jose and Magdalena Castillo will see their marriage 
tax penalty eliminated this year.
  Think about it: $1,700, that is chump change here in Washington, 
where people are coming up with all sorts of creative ways to spend 
billions and trillions of dollars over the next decade. But for married 
couples like Jose and Magdalena Castillo of Joliet, Illinois, $1,400, 
in their case that is several months' worth of car payments, that is a 
couple months' worth of mortgage payments on their home, that is 
several months of day care for little Eduardo and Carolina, their 
children, while they are at work. It is real money for real people.
  As everyone knows, in the Bush tax cut of 2001, we began the process 
of eliminating the marriage tax penalty. Unfortunately, under the Bush 
tax cut of 2001, for the marriage tax penalty for married couples like 
Jose and Magdalena Castillo, it was phased out over the decade, which 
meant the marriage tax penalty continued to be there. It just got a 
little smaller each year.
  Clearly, one of the greatest accomplishments of the jobs and economic 
growth package is we eliminate the marriage tax penalty this year for 
married couples like Jose and Magdalena Castillo.
  We do it two ways. For those who do not itemize their taxes, maybe 
they do not give a lot of money to their church or charity, or do not 
own a home so they do not have the home interest mortgage deduction, 
they benefit because we double the standard deduction for joint filers, 
married couples, to twice that of singles. So for those who do not 
itemize, we eliminate their marriage tax penalty.
  For those who do itemize, married couples like Jose and Magdalena 
Castillo of Joliet, Illinois, who are homeowners, and of course give to 
their church and charity, they itemize their taxes, we eliminate the 
marriage tax penalty for them by widening the 15 percent tax bracket, 
which is the basic middle class tax bracket, so those who are among the 
married couples will be able to earn twice as much as a single person 
and stay in that 15 percent tax bracket.
  The bottom line for Jose and Magdalena Castillo of Joliet, Illinois, 
is we eliminate their marriage tax penalty this year, clearly one of 
the greatest accomplishments of the jobs and economic growth package 
that President Bush signed just this week.
  So if we think about it, for 42 million married working couples, 
$1,700 they will be able to have this year to spend at home to meet 
their own needs. In the case of Jose and Magdalena Castillo, for their 
children Eduardo and Carolina, that will be extra money for back to 
school; extra money for making some improvements to their house; maybe 
even take a family vacation, perhaps for the first time in their lives.
  But the bottom line is, as we are working to get this economy moving 
again, by giving good working people like Jose and Magdalena Castillo 
what is really their money by eliminating an unfairness in the Tax Code 
this year, that is extra money that is going to be spent in Joliet, 
Illinois, in the district that I represent. Like 42 million other 
married working couples, that extra money they are going to spend in 
their home towns is going to help create jobs. When they go to the 
local store and they spend some money to improve their home or they 
make an improvement to their car or they do some home improvements, 
that creates jobs for their neighbors and their friends.
  That is what this was all about. The most important thing we can be 
doing today is revitalizing this economy here at home; and by 
eliminating the marriage tax penalty this year, thanks to this 
Republican majority in the Congress and our good President down at the 
White House, President George W. Bush, we eliminate the marriage tax 
penalty this year for couples like Jose and Magdalena Castillo of 
Joliet, Illinois.

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