Marriage Penalty Finally Calculated

[Oddball]

Vote for people who will change the tax code. I do.

I'll only vote for someone who abolishes the 16th Amendment and the IRS.

Anything less just gives cryasses like you something to bellyache about.

 

[j-mac]

System treats me like a king. I appreciate you voting to keep me wealthier at your expense. The marriage penalty affects those at the middle mostly. Not me so much.

Oh sure, we're all millionaires wasting time on message boards. Yeah right.

 

[badbob85037]

Social engineering via the tax code - which is ostensibly in place to pay for legitimate functions of The State....How very fascist of you.

What makes ones like you so dependent on government?

 

[Sandisk]

Answer: Over $100,000. My wife’s already expensive so tacking on a marriage penalty violates my 8th amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

I know most of you don’t know what a girl is but it’s still interesting data. Strong families make for strong communities, we should be working to make sure that government policies encourage families rather than discourage them.

How Big Is the Marriage Tax? Now We Know | John C. Goodman

There are many reasons to care about this. Academic studies find that marriage stabilizes relationships, improves children’s outcomes and facilitates the development of labor market skills for the adults. In general, marriage is correlated with economic well-being. One study reports that married couples’ average per capita wealth is more than twice that of the never-married.

Until recently researchers have not had the tools to fully measure the full extent of government-created marriage penalties. A new study by Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff and his colleagues gives us the most accurate estimate to date.

The study includes more than 30 different federal and state entitlement programs—all of which condition benefits on the beneficiaries’ incomes. In addition to federal income and payroll taxes, it includes the tax rates in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. And it includes the effects of marriage on such elderly entitlement benefits as Social Security and Medicare. No previous study comes close to this level of careful measurement.

One finding: young adults with low- or middle-income jobs pay a heavy price if they marry. When higher tax rates are combined with a reduction in welfare/entitlement benefits, the economic loss from marriage is equal to between one-and-a-half and two years of income, on average.

Assuming almost, every couple that wants to get married - already does so?
All your idea does is give financial incentive to people who probably should not get married - to do so anyway.

And if you honestly think that such a government program would not be abused - you are naive.

How about just have the government mind their own fucking business.
And NOT get involved in families AT ALL?

 

[citygator]

Assuming almost, every couple that wants to get married - already does so?
All your idea does is give financial incentive to people who probably should not get married - to do so anyway.

And if you honestly think that such a government program would not be abused - you are naive.

How about just have the government mind their own fucking business.
And NOT get involved in families AT ALL?

I’m confused. Not looking for a marriage benefit. Looking to get rid of a marriage penalty. That’s shouldn’t incentivize anyone to get married.

 

[Sandisk]

I’m confused. Not looking for a marriage benefit. Looking to get rid of a marriage penalty. That’s shouldn’t incentivize anyone to get married.

What specific marriage penalty are you talking about?

You usually seem to make good posts, IMO.
But your exact point here escapes me.

 

[Thinker101]

Vote for people who will change the tax code. I do.

You're in luck, Bidung is in the process of changing the tax code...dumbass.

 

[Jarlaxle]

It is not complicated.

Actually, the complete IRS code is just short of 7,000 pages.

 

[Jarlaxle]

System treats me like a king. I appreciate you voting to keep me wealthier at your expense. The marriage penalty affects those at the middle mostly. Not me so much.

You're so full of shit your breath stinks.

 

[citygator]

What specific marriage penalty are you talking about?

You usually seem to make good posts, IMO.
But your exact point here escapes me.

The study in the OP:

One finding: young adults with low- or middle-income jobs pay a heavy price if they marry. When higher tax rates are combined with a reduction in welfare/entitlement benefits, the economic loss from marriage is equal to between one-and-a-half and two years of income, on average.


Take two people between the ages of 26 and 40:

• If both individuals earn $10 an hour, getting married will lower their lifetime income by more than $70,000, on average.
• If they earn $15 an hour, the lifetime losses will climb to more than $107,000.
• At $20 an hour, their loss will be more than $142,000.