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From: jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: net.taxes,net.singles,net.flame
Subject: Re: Re: Marriage penalty
Message-ID: <2298@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 20-Feb-85 13:27:09 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2298
Posted: Wed Feb 20 13:27:09 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 04:04:28 EST
References: <285@calmasd.UUCP> <2297@mit-hermes.ARPA> <897@vax1.fluke.UUCP>
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
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Xref: watmath net.taxes:725 net.singles:5966 net.flame:8532

>	The marriage tax is based on the premise that
>we all live as working-husband-and-housewife couples. The rationale is that
>husbands could avoid paying tax at higher rates by diverting half their income
>to their wives, so the two would each pay at a lower rate.

 
| Why do some people think two wage earning families are penalized
| with respect to one wage earning families?

| Should a two income family pay less tax than a one income family
| given that both families have identical incomes?
| 	Why?

I said two-income couples are penalized, and I think so because it's true: if
A and B each earn $20000 a year, they pay a lower fraction of their income in 
taxes than they would if they were a couple with a joint income of $40000. Do
you think that this causes them to pay less in Social Security taxes, as their
joint income takes them over the top salary for contributions? Fat chance.
Someone said that the laws were set up the way they are because
congressmen (if I'd meant congresspeople, I'd have said so) mostly have
economically dependent wives; that's probably right.

Why are you introducing a suggestion that two-income couples might ever pay
less tax? The discussion was about whether it's just that they should pay more.

There have been mentions of common-law marriages here: has there ever been a 
case of the IRS telling a couple that they were married when the couple said
they weren't, and never had been?


			John Purbrick
			decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!mit-hermes!jpexg
			jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA