Sam Brownback: “the amendment we have offered would eliminate the marriage penalty, and that is an item of discussion we want to discuss…”

“the amendment we have offered would eliminate the marriage penalty, and that is an item of discussion we want to discuss this morning--the Senator from Missouri and myself. A number of people have been involved in this discussion. The Senator from Texas, Senator Hutchison, has been one of the leading proponents of this particular issue of doing away with the marriage penalty. Our amendment to eliminate the marriage penalty, which is being cosponsored by Senator Ashcroft, Senator Inhofe, Senator Grams, would reinstate income splitting and provide married couples who currently labor under the onerous burden of our Tax Code with much needed relief. Our amendment doubles the standard deduction for married couples. It is a very simple amendment. It doubles the standard deduction for married couples. Currently, the single standard deduction is $4,150, while the marriage standard deduction is only $6,900. Our amendment would raise the standard deduction for all married couples to $8,300, precisely double what it currently is for single people. That is just the heart and soul--that is the guts of what this is about. We are trying to make the field the same for married couples as it is for singles. We think this will send a powerful signal to the institution of marriage that is central to family involvement in this country and saying that if you get married, we are not going to tax you more than if you are single living together. That is the simple statement here.…”