FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2000
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATOR HUTCHISON REGRETS
DEMOCRAT BLOCKAGE OF MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF
- "This Tax Code Flaw Should Be Corrected" -
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said today that more than 21 million American couples lost their fight for tax code fairness as Democrats again stopped a Senate vote on the Marriage Penalty Tax Relief bill.
"It's unfortunate that the Senate has been blocked from voting for marriage penalty tax relief," said Senator Hutchison, who has led the fight since 1997 to fix the tax code flaw. "This is really a needed tax correction more than a tax cut."
The Senate failed today to end a filibuster which has prevented Senators from voting on the Marriage Penalty Tax Relief bill.
The unfair marriage penalty tax affects half of all American married couples -- 21 million in all. The standard deduction for single taxpayers in 2000 is $4,400. But for couples filing jointly, the standard deduction is $7,350 -- $1,450 less than if the couples filed separately. The bill doubles the standard deduction to $8,800 and expands the 15 percent and 28 percent tax brackets for married couples to twice that of a single taxpayer.
The Senate Finance Committee reported out a Marriage Penalty Tax Relief bill last month which includes key provisions of S.12, legislation introduced earlier by Senator Hutchison. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill on February 10 by a vote of 268-158. During debate on next year's budget last week, the Senate voted 99-1 in support of the Hutchison-Ashcroft amendment calling for a repeal of the marriage penalty tax by April 17, the deadline for Americans to file their tax returns.
"There is something fundamentally wrong with a tax system that punishes people simply for being married," Senator Hutchison said. "Americans should not have to choose between love and money."
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