WASHINGTON – First District Congressman Paul Ryan today voted in favor of the Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000 (H.R. 4810), which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 269-159. This legislation substantially eases the “marriage penalty” – the bias in the tax code that forces many working married couples to pay more in taxes than they would if they were not married but still lived together.

Earlier this year, Ryan supported similar legislation, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate due to a filibuster. Today’s marriage penalty relief bill takes a procedurally different form to increase its chances of passage in the Senate. This legislation cannot be filibustered and requires just 51 votes in the Senate in order to pass.

“This bill offers the best chance that marriage penalty relief will pass the Senate,” said Ryan. “It’s simply a question of fairness. The IRS shouldn’t penalize married couples who file their taxes jointly. The excess taxes many married couples now pay could be better spent or saved for family expenses like school tuition, home repairs, or opening an IRA.”

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the marriage penalty currently affects about 22 million couples, or 43 percent of all married couples who pay an average of $1,480 more per year in taxes.

Today’s legislation provides $182.3 billion in marriage penalty tax relief over 10 years. Married couples would see their standard deduction increase to twice that of single taxpayers beginning in 2001. In addition, married couples who file jointly would benefit from a phased-in expansion of the 15 percent tax bracket. The bill also includes a provision that helps end the marriage penalty for low-income couples, who lose their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) subsidies more quickly than do single working adults. Beginning in 2001, the bill increases by $2,000 the amount a joint-filing couple may earn before their EITC benefits begin to phase out.