Marriage tax is unfair

By Jerry Weller

The dreaded April 15th "Tax Day" is here, and while most Americans struggle with filing last-minute returns, I ask you to consider which is the most egregious: taxing a family's first-born child, taxing a church for feeding the hungry, or taxing a couple because they entered into holy matrimony?

For many, all three taxing possibilities seem outrageous and unlikely ever to occur in the United States, but for 21 million working married couples this April 15th the marriage tax is an unfair and harsh reality.

This year, 21 million working married couples will feel the bite of the marriage tax. When we add up the lifelong toll of the (on average) $1,400-a-year marriage tax on families, the crippling effect is astounding. A couple married for 40 years would have to pay, on average, $56,000 in marriage tax penalties.

Imagine what you could make in interest if you could invest that money. Or, maybe you could slash your mortgage by 25%-30%.

The marriage tax penalty occurs because our current tax code pushes married couples with two incomes into higher tax brackets by requiring the husband and wife to file jointly. It taxes the income of the family's second wage earner - often the woman's salary - at a much higher rate than if that salary were taxed at the singles rates.

I am proud of the bipartisan support my legislation to eliminate the marriage tax has received from U.S. Reps. Pat Danner, D-Mo., and David McIntosh, R-Ind., and 230 others in Congress. H.R. 6, the Marriage Tax Elimination Act of 1999, also has been made a priority of the House Republican leadership to end the decade-long practice of punishing married couples for no other reason than they married into the hostile tax brackets of the Tax Code.

Our society's most basic institution should be strengthened, not penalized. The marriage tax is unfair and un-American. It must be eliminated!

Republican Jerry Weller represents Illinois' 11th district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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