Sam Brownback: “I thank Senator Coverdell and add my voice in support of the amendment by Senator Mack and Senator Hatch. The marriage…”

“I thank Senator Coverdell and add my voice in support of the amendment by Senator Mack and Senator Hatch. The marriage penalty appears in the Tax Code 66 different places. That is a situation where we have a married couple who do not get the same advantages as two people filing individually. Here is another case where the marriage penalty occurs, and here is another case where we are trying to pull it out of the Tax Code. That is why I add my voice of support to this amendment by Senator Hatch and by Senator Mack to eliminate this portion of the marriage penalty that appears in the education IRAs. Annually, there are about 22 million married couples who pay a penalty of some sort or another in the Tax Code, for being married. They pay an average of $1,480 more in Federal income taxes than they would if they were single living together. I think it is a bad signal that we send across the country. It is a bad signal in the Tax Code. It is one we ought to ferret out wherever we possibly can. This is a good place for us to address this particular issue. Our Tax Code is riddled with provisions that penalize America's families. The House has passed a bill to provide marriage tax penalty relief that is separate and distinct from this particular area of the marriage penalty. What they would do is provide marginal rate brackets that are fair for the families. They would eliminate the marriage penalty that exists in the standard deduction as well.”