Sam Brownback: “The marriage penalty that we are talking about affects nearly 21 million American families, most of them young, starting…”

“The marriage penalty that we are talking about affects nearly 21 million American families, most of them young, starting families. These are all families that make between $20,000 and $70,000 a year. They are two-wage-earner families. So you are really talking about that group of young Americans just getting started, both working, both struggling, both trying to make this family go, and we actually penalize them on an average of $1,400 per year. This is a relatively new tax. We have only put it on since 1969. I don't know if there is a significance to any of that, but perhaps this is now the time that we should get away from that sort of penalty.”