Sam Brownback: “The average marriage penalty in this country for people who are paying the marriage penalty is just over $1,400 a year…”

“The average marriage penalty in this country for people who are paying the marriage penalty is just over $1,400 a year; $1,425 a year is the average amount that families are paying for the marriage penalty in America. I think that is just far too high. It may not seem like a lot to some people. But in paying electric bills, you could pay an average one for over 9 months. For some families, it would pay for a week-long vacation at Disneyland. It would make four payments on a minivan. You can go out to dinner, buy over 1,000 gallons of gasoline, you can buy over 1,200 loaves of bread. Those are important things to do with $1,425. I want to show this chart to my colleagues as well. There are some who suggested last time when we entered into this debate that there is also a marriage bonus, and that if you will do away with the marriage bonus, we will do away with the marriage penalty. I have no problem whatsoever giving a bonus to people who are married. I think that we should honor this institution, and if they want to propose raising taxes on people who are married, they can go ahead and do so. I oppose that. But I want to show who it hits. Again, you are talking about the highest proportion of the marriage penalty going to those families when the higher-earning spouse is making somewhere between $20,000 and $75,000.”