FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2000
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATE SAYS 'I DO'
TO REPEALING MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY
Senator Hutchison Urges President to Sign Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate voted today to repeal the marriage tax penalty, erasing "one of the most unfair provisions in the tax code," according to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Senate's leading advocate for ending the marriage tax.
"This is the sweetest kind of victory: One for the American people, and specifically, the 21 million married couples who have been repeatedly victimized by this flaw in the tax code," Senator Hutchison said. "This is a tax correction, not a tax cut."
"The President needs to stop making excuses and sign this bill. A policeman and a school teacher who are married, and making $30,000 each a year, are not rich -- and they deserve tax relief," Senator Hutchison said, calling on President Clinton to sign the legislation when it reaches him later this week.
"The President asked Congress to send him a clean bill to end the marriage tax penalty, that's what we're doing," the Senator said.
The marriage tax penalty 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 individually.
The Senate 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.
"I have long believed that marriage should not be a taxable event," Senator Hutchison, who has worked for marriage tax penalty relief since she first came to the Senate, said. "Marriage is one of the foundation stones of our society and as such, should be strengthened not undermined by the tax code."
The House of Representatives is expected to pass the Senate's version of marriage tax penalty repeal Wednesday.
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