Trent Lott: “I would ask this of the Senator, is he opposed to eliminating the marriage penalty in the Tax Code? For years we have…”

“I would ask this of the Senator, is he opposed to eliminating the marriage penalty in the Tax Code? For years we have talked about the unfairness of the marriage penalty. That is one of the things we propose to eliminate, and it is not cheap. It costs a good bit of money. Why should a couple living apart pay more when they get married, under the Tax Code, even though they are making the same money? Who among us opposes the option of the spousal IRA, the spouse working in the home being able to have an individual retirement account? I do not think anybody is opposed to that. Most of us would like to see the IRA expanded because we would like to encourage savings. When we had the individual retirement account provisions in the 1980's it worked. It encouraged people to save. Part of what is going on in these negotiations would allow for an expansion of IRA and then allow it to be used for education and for medical purposes. I think those are good ideas. And should we not allow for changes in the estate taxes so people who have small farms and small businesses do not wind up having to sell the farms that have been in their families for years to pay for the estate taxes--how in the world did we ever get in a position of taxing death, anyway? I think most American people would like to receive some relief there, whether they are wealthy or poor, frankly.”