FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2003
CONTACT: Kevin Schweers
SENATORS HUTCHISON, BAYH INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN BILL TO MAKE MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF IMMEDIATE AND PERMANENT
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) today introduced bipartisan legislation to make marriage penalty relief enacted last year permanent and effective immediately, speeding up by six years significant tax savings for 35 million American families.
"It's simply wrong for the government to tax couples simply for saying ‘I do,'" said Hutchison, who led the passage of marriage penalty relief in 2001. "We took some major strides to right that wrong in the last Congress. Now it's time to finish the job."
"Married couples should not have to pay more in taxes simply because they fall in love and get married," said Bayh, who authored a marriage penalty relief bill of his own in 2000. "Our bill provides significant short-term economic stimulus and sensible long term reform of a flaw in our tax code by making marriage penalty relief immediate and permanent."
The Hutchison-Bayh Marriage Penalty Relief Act of 2003 would make the marriage penalty relief provisions of The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 ("EGTRRA") permanent and effective immediately. Specifically, the bill would:
- Increase the standard deduction for married filing jointly to twice that of the corresponding single standard deduction. The standard deduction in 2003 is $4,750 for singles and $7,950 for married couples. Under the bill, the standard deduction for married couples would increase by $1,550 to $9,500;
- Widen the 15% tax bracket for joint filers so that it is twice the size of the corresponding single bracket by increasing the top of the 15% bracket for married couples from $47,450 to $56,800 in 2003;
- Raise the income levels at which the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) begins to phase out for married couples filing jointly by $3,000. This would reduce the risk that low-income workers lose the benefits of the EITC simply by getting married; and
- Make the marriage penalty relief permanent by eliminating the sunset provision in EGTRRA, as it relates to the marriage penalty relief provisions.
"By passing this legislation, the Senate can make marriage penalty tax relief permanent and help millions of working couples right away," Hutchison added.
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