Max Baucus: “I will make some general comments to help put this debate in context. First of all, under this bill, who are the winners…”

“I will make some general comments to help put this debate in context. First of all, under this bill, who are the winners and who don't win quite so much? Under this bill, the big winners are married couples with kids. By far, they receive a greater share of the benefits of this bill, not only absolutely but proportionately. Who does not do quite so well? Singles. Single taxpayers do not do nearly as well in receiving benefits under this bill. Who else does not do quite so well under this bill? The elderly. The elderly do not do quite as well compared with married couples under this bill. Who else? Students. Students do not do quite so well compared with married couples under this bill. In the broad brush of things, the bill already gives very significant tax relief, in fact, disproportionate tax relief, to married couples already. We on the floor can decide to do still more. But if we do, it is at the expense of others. The others will necessarily be those nonmarried. Who are the nonmarrieds by definition? They are singles. And some of them are elderly and some are students. So it will be a shift away from people already not receiving nearly as many benefits absolutely and proportionately as married couples. That is a decision we can make here. Life is full of decisions. But that is the effect of what these amendments do. I mention one group: students. The amendment offered by the Senator from Texas will cut education to help married couples even more.”