Freshman U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., is looking to eliminate the federal Marriage Tax Penalty with the “Make Marriage Great Again Act.”
Steube introduced the bill, which amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the Marriage Tax Penalty, earlier this month and weighed in on his proposal on Monday.
“The American family is the backbone of our nation and marriage is a fundamental part of our society that should be incentivized, not deterred, by our tax code,” said Steube. “Ask any married person and they will tell you that the Marriage Tax Penalty is tough—it makes it harder to pay the bills, provide for your family, and save for the future, all because you’re married. This bill would change that.”
Steube noted in 2017 that more than 56 million married Americans filed taxes and were penalized by the current code.
“Under the current tax system, married individuals have a separate table within the Internal Revenue Code for calculating their income tax liability whether they are filing jointly or separately. The income thresholds for these tables were arbitrarily decided and have caused some married couples to pay more in taxes than they would have if they were unmarried,” the congressman’s office noted.
“Since 1986, the Marriage Tax Penalty has been hurting our families and it’s time to fix that,” Steube said. “This bill would eliminate the penalty by doubling the income thresholds within the tax code for a single person so that no married couple will have to pay more in taxes than they would have were they single.”
The congressman added that his proposal will boost the nation by offering married couples more financial security.
“This will strengthen our nation by incentivizing the stability of marriage and giving married Americans the ability to financially thrive for generations to come,” Steube insisted.
In the meantime, Steube has a long fight ahead of him to get the bill to the finish line. So far, there is no version of the bill over in the U.S. Senate and Steube has not reeled in any cosponsors in the House. The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week.
