Marriage Penalty Repeal. This measure would phase out over five years the marriage penalty in the income tax code. The marriage penalty taxes dual-income married families at a higher rate than couples who live together but are not married. Representative Jerry Weller (R-IL) explained that this vote was about "a very basic, fundamental question," namely: "Is it right that 25 million married working couples, 50 million taxpayers, pay on average $1,400 more in higher taxes just because they are married?"
The House adopted the final version of this legislation (the conference report on H.R. 4810) on July 20, 2000 by a vote of 271-156 (Roll Call 418). We have assigned pluses to the yeas.
