Gerald Kleczka: “for the last 3 hours we have been extolling the virtues of eliminating the marriage tax penalty. The most amazing part…”

“for the last 3 hours we have been extolling the virtues of eliminating the marriage tax penalty. The most amazing part of the debate is, we all agree. I agree with the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson). In fact, I have introduced legislation that does just that. So that is not in question before us today. The President supports it. The Vice President, Al Gore, supports it. What is the problem with the bill we have before us today? Mr. Speaker, look at this chart. The problem with the bill, and I have taken the liberty of renaming it, I think it should be really called the tax fraud act of the year 2000, because Republican after Republican has stood up and said the bill provides marriage penalty tax relief. When the bill was before the Committee on Ways and Means last week, we asked the Republican staffers, where do the benefits go? Ms. Paulls, their main staffer, conceded to all of us that over 50 percent of the benefits in this bill go to people who do not pay a marriage penalty. They are in a marriage bonus situation. So what is all this rhetoric we are hearing about? Why will not any of my Republican colleagues respond to this? If they do not have a decent answer, just say, Because we wanted to do it, that is why. Well, where does this inequity come from? What the Republicans have done in this bill, they have added a change in the lowest tax bracket, the 15 percent tax bracket.…”