FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2001
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON TESTIFIES
BEFORE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS
Urges marriage tax penalty relief be included in tax bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison today testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, urging the panel to include marriage penalty relief in any tax-cut package the committee approves.
"A key element of any tax relief bill we send to the president should be fairness," Senator Hutchison said. "It makes absolutely no sense that a married couple be thrown into a higher tax bracket and pay more in taxes than they did when they were two single filers. They didn't get pay raises -- why should they pay higher taxes?"
Senator Hutchison was the main Senate sponsor of the marriage penalty bill that was passed twice by the last Congress, but was vetoed both times by President Clinton.
"We now have a surplus in Washington," Senator Hutchison said. "But it doesn't belong to Congress. It belongs to the taxpayers. Washington shouldn't be telling people they have to choose between love and money, saying that if you get married, we're going to make you pay more in taxes. It's time to inject common sense into the tax code."
Senator Hutchison's bill on this subject, S. 11, would take effect for the 2001 tax year. It would simply increase the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly so that it is twice the size of the standard deduction for individuals. The standard deduction changes annually. Under current law, the deduction for 2001 is $4,550 for a single filer and $7,600 for a married couple filing jointly.
Referred to as the "Marriage Tax Penalty Elimination Act of 2001," Senator Hutchison's bill also would widen each tax bracket for married couples filing a joint return to twice the size of the corresponding rate bracket for a single taxpayer. This would increase the lowest bracket (15 percent) in 2001 by roughly $9,000 for married couples, from $45,200 to $54,100.
"The marriage tax penalty forces some 21 million couples to pay an average of $1,400 more in taxes than two single filers," Senator Hutchison said. "Losing money when you gamble on love should only affect honeymooners in Vegas. It's time to pass marriage tax penalty relief."
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