New Federal Tax Code Punishing Marriage in Florida?

The Sun-Sentinel reports today on the latest victims of federal social engineering via the tax system -- almost 70,000 families in South Florida, and presumably tens of thousands more throughout the Sunshine State, perhaps amounting to hundreds of thousands -- facing new tax increases:

"As tax season starts, Plantation accountant Sheri Schultz has started crunching numbers --and she doesn't like what she sees. Her family is facing tax hikes to the tune of thousands of dollars this year.

"They and other South Florida families with high dual incomes are finding they will owe more in new taxes this year after Congress voted on hikes to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Specifically, married couples who earn at least $250,000 a year will be paying more in taxes --much more than their single counterparts, who are allowed to make $200,000 a year before higher taxes kick in.

"'It's a hidden tax,' said Coral Springs accountant Joel Feller. 'People are in for a big surprise.'

"The new tax hikes hit hardest the couples that have both spouses working and some of South Florida's top-earning households are dual-income couples with mortgages who send their children to public schools, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"South Florida has a high number of women who earn more than their counterparts in other parts of the United States, particularly businesswomen, said Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, an economics professor who directs the Center of Economic Research at Florida International University."

{Source: "Taxes Rising for Affluent Married Couples in South Florida"}

The Sentinel reports the married couples are also paying2percent more in Social Security taxes, just under 1 percent more in the Medicare tax, and an extra 3.9 percent tax on capital gains, dividends, interest, annuities, royalties, rental income, and investments.