-Caveat Lector-
> The Hidden Meaning Of Marriage Tax Repeal
>
> March 7, 2001 by: Phyllis Schlafly
>
> Repeal of the marriage tax penalty was always good for a big round
> of applause in the campaign speeches of most political candidates
> last year. But it's scheduled for bumpy sledding in the drafting of
> this
> year's tax-cut bill.
>
> The marriage tax is not verbally expressed as policy in any statute
> but is buried in the numbers. It is a consequence of the fact that
> our
> income tax tables treat a married couple as only 1.67 persons
> instead of two whole persons.
>
> Few people understand how the marriage tax functions or how it
> should be remedied except the green-eyeshade number-crunchers.
> But dollars are not all that matters; ideology is at stake in the
> drafting
> of changes in the income tax law.
>
> Is the purpose of cutting the marriage tax to accord long overdue
> socio-economic respect for marriage as an institution fundamental to
> our society and to the raising of children? Or is the purpose to
> enable
> government to engage in national economic planning by using tax
> policy to influence human behavior?
>
> If the purpose is the former, then it follows that all married
> couples
> with the same income should be taxed equally. If the plan is to give
> a
> tax break to two-earner couples only, that will replace the marriage
> penalty with a new homemaker penalty.
>
> That's what's behind the controversy now going on behind closed
> doors in Washington. Even those politicians who don't particularly
> care about promoting marriage should be squeamish about
> discriminating against one type of married couples in favor of
> another.
>
> Last year's Congress dealt fairly with this issue by passing a bill
> that
> taxed one-earner and two-earner married couples equally. Bill Clinton
> showed which side he was on by vetoing the bill, and it did not
> become law.
>
> Unfortunately, the White House executive summary of the
> President's tax-cut proposal calls for "reducing the marriage penalty
> by reinstating the 10 percent deduction for two-earner couples." Not
> only does this proposal give less relief than the bill passed by
> Congress last year but, even worse, it would impose a new
> homemaker penalty on one-earner couples.
>
> Since the Bush tax cuts would be phased in over five to seven years,
> for simplicity, let's consider what they would accomplish after they
> become fully operative.
>
> Let's say a married couple is struggling financially and needs more
> income to support the family, perhaps because of the birth of a
> child.
> What choices are available?
>
> In one family, assume the wife takes a job and puts her children in
> daycare. This couple would get a marriage tax deduction of 10
> percent of her salary up to $30,000; that chops as much as $990 off
> the family's federal income tax bill (at the new 33 percent top Bush
> tax rate). In addition, this couple qualifies for the existing tax
> credit
> for child-care expenses, which is worth up to $960.
>
> Now consider another family where the husband moonlights at a
> second job so his wife can care for their children at home. This
> family
> will not qualify for either the new Bush marriage tax break or the
> child-care credit that exists in current tax law.
>
> The husband and wife surely work just as hard in this second family
> as in the first. Why should they pay up to $1,950 more in federal
> income taxes on the same family income?
>
> Moonlighting at a second job is just one of several ways a husband
> can provide his children with the benefits of a fulltime mother, and
> avoid commercial daycare. The husband can work longer hours at his
> first job; he can make the extra effort required to get a higher
> paying
> job; he can go to school at night to train for a higher paying
> career.
>
> Who are the bureaucrats who presume to use the tax power to force
> traditional husband-breadwinner, wife-homemaker couples to
> subsidize two-earner couples who hire paid child care?
>
> The marriage penalty in the tax code is an immoral policy regardless
> of one-earner or two-earner households. Giving a tax cut only to
> two-earner couples would send the radical feminist message that the
> government sees no value in a homemaker's work at home, that the
> role of a "non-working" wife and mother is less socially beneficial
> (or
> less worthy) than paid employment.
>
> Disturbing emanations from the tax-writing process indicate that this
> discrimination is not inadvertent. A leading economic adviser praised
> the goal of inducing married women toward greater participation in
> the
> labor force because that would increase our Gross Domestic Product
> and yield a greater federal budget surplus.
>
> Let's get this issue out on the table instead of concealing it in the
> arcane depths of the tax tables. Let the American people decide
> whether they want income tax policy to bolster the institution of
> marriage OR to bolster the GDP by inducing more women to join the
> labor force.
>
> Phyllis Schlafly column 3-07-01
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Read this column online:
> http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2001/mar01/01-03-07.shtml
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Eagle Forum supports important modifications
> to President Bush's tax cut plan.
> http://www.eagleforum.org/alert/01-03-06/tax-cut.shtml
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Eagle Forum * PO Box 618 * Alton, IL 62002
> Phone: 618-462-5415 * Fax: 618-462-8909
> http://www.eagleforum.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> EAGLE FORUM
> PO Box 618
> Alton, IL 62002
> Phone: 618-462-5415
> Fax: 618-462-8909
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