David Weldon: “Mr. Speaker, I believe it is immoral to have a Tax Code that discourages people from getting married. It is immoral to…”

“Mr. Speaker, I believe it is immoral to have a Tax Code that discourages people from getting married. It is immoral to have a Tax Code that encourages people to live out of wedlock. I saw it firsthand in my medical practice where I had couples coming in to see me as patients who were living outside the bonds of marriage, and when I would ask them why, the reason I heard most often was because their taxes would go up. It particularly disturbed me to see it in senior citizens, who knew that they were setting a bad example for their children and their grandchildren, and they would most often cite to me that their taxes would go up $1,000 to $1,400 if they were to get married. Our tax relief package provides that necessary relief so we would not have a Tax Code encouraging people to live outside of wedlock. The Democratic substitute will provide about $210 worth of marriage tax penalty relief to those same couples, and it does not get the job done, in my opinion. We will not relieve this immoral feature of our Tax Code with their substitute, so that is why I am encouraging people to vote against it.”