Taxes and Wedlock
Taxes and Wedlock In response to the article by Allan Carlson and David Blankenhorn ("The Wages of Wedlock," Nov. 17), let me state for the record the facts about our bill, the Marriage Tax...
...Mcintosh's use of the terms "bonus" and "penalty" misses the point...
...For the average working family, this is money that could be used for a year's worth of car payments, six months of mortgage payments, food on the table, or clothing for the kids...
...Liberals have criticized our bill because it does not eliminate the marriage "bonus" whereby one spouse stays at home and the spouse who works gets a tax break for being married...
...However, most two-earner families are penalized by filing jointly...
...Americans should embrace a third path that would promote necessary campaign reforms while preserving free speech...
...I support the Senate's increased marriage bonus for homemakers and hope that senators support our bill to eliminate the marriage penalty on working moms...
...Their total family income would be $30,500...
...I also liked the cover featuring Al Gore as a Buddhist monk...
...Any hostility suggested by my sloppy paraphrasing is my error...
...Families with two earners are paying more in taxes than families with one earner...
...Our bill allows them to keep this benefit...
...Since he was openly gay, I rather doubt it...
...c.b...
...Under current law, Roger would pay $3,592 in taxes as a single man and $2,805 as a married man...
...This first couple is more out of touch with America than any other in our history...
...Of course, let's eliminate the marriage penalty...
...Rep...
...House contenders should collect from adult citizens in their own congressional districts...
...Under current law, all families must file jointly...
...3): He quotes me quoting the governor, when in fact I was somewhat wildly paraphrasing her with a little too much vulgar liberty...
...Mike Murphy McLean, VA Not a Pink Panther Thank you for Matthew Scully's review of my book ("Who Pays for Big Bird...
...Alas, Frum suggests that America must choose either McCain-Fein-gold-style "reforms" that limit free speech or today's bribocracy, in which campaign donations purchase federal goodies...
...Senatorial aspirants should raise money within their own states, and White House candidates should gather cash nationwide...
...On the other hand, there are no one-earner families paying a penalty while 90 percent are receiving a bonus...
...Political cartoons make us laugh at the foibles and gaffes of otherwise serious people and issues...
...What everyone should do is express his beliefs on candidates and causes...
...Hillary's proclamations reveal a naivete that is never noticed by the media...
...This approach would reduce dramatically the amount of legal bribe-money in candidates' pockets and the parties' coffers, while increasing the free speech that Frum rightly cherishes...
...Conservatives and libertarians should be gravely concerned about Washington's legal bribes-for-favors machine...
...Our point about regressivity is valid...
...Keep up the good work...
...Does anything other than campaign cash sustain Davis-Bacon and sugar subsidies while allowing hustlers like Roger Tamraz to beg the White House for commercial gifts...
...A tax cut aimed at comparatively affluent persons—and no one denies that two-earner couples are more affluent than one-earner couples—does indeed increase regressivity in the tax code...
...Allow me to correct one factual error: Scully wrote that the early public-television program Soul...
...People need to lighten up, don't you think...
...Simply put, the bill Rep...
...One of the letters you printed called it "low and tasteless...
...I think Scully may have read too quickly over a passage discussing an episode of Soul...
...He may know better, but I have no knowledge that the late Ellis Haizlip was ever affiliated with the Black Panther party...
...If people want to influence lawmakers, let them speak out in the court of public opinion...
...Bergin Houston, tx But Still True to Spirit One correction to Tucker Carlson's story on the Christie Whitman race in New Jersey ("Christie Whitman, Relic of the Eastern GOP" Nov...
...Certainly my book does not say that Haizlip was a Panther...
...It would have transformed the First Amendment into a honeycomb of campaign-related exceptions, exemptions, and exclusions...
...Until then, conservatives must band together, not make the perfect the enemy of the good...
...Ultimately, the only solution that will treat all taxpayers equally is the one that ends the IRS as we know it and replaces it with a new, single-rate system...
...In the example above, let's say Roger works but Linda does not...
...David McIntosh Washington, DC Allan C. Carlson and David Blankenhorn reply: Rep...
...Whitman never told anyone to "piss off" while discussing her position on partial-birth abortion...
...17), let me state for the record the facts about our bill, the Marriage Tax Elimination Act...
...Any proposal that would increase the share of the tax burden borne by one-earner couples is a bad idea...
...was "hosted by a Black Panther...
...This is wrongheaded...
...In other words, federal candidates should raise funds from those who can vote for them...
...Bewailing the Decay of Public TV," Nov...
...He is assuming that individual filing represents fairness and that anything different must either be a penalty or a bonus...
...Not-So-Free Speech Ishare David Frum's relief that the McCain-Feingold reform bill is more or less dead ("Shut Up, They Explained," Nov...
...deroy murdock New York, ny Hillary Loves Hillary Christopher Caldwell knows that nobody loves Hillary the way Hillary loves Hillary ("The Hillary Cult," Nov...
...According to the Congressional Budget Office, 76 percent of families with two earners pay a marriage penalty, and only 21 percent receive a marriage bonus...
...3) was one of the meanest pieces I've seen in years...
...The 1974 donations limits could be adjusted for inflation, then indexed thereafter...
...This is a false dichotomy...
...I wish you had more covers poking fun at the sanctimonious inside-the-Beltway folk...
...Roger and Linda's marriage bonus would be $787...
...Past American mothers were not "handed a pattern" for raising a family...
...Louis W. Riggs Hannibal, MI...
...Under our bill, all families are either better off because their marriage penalty would be eliminated or treated exactly the same because they would keep their marriage bonus...
...Jerry Weller and I introduced gives families a choice: A husband and wife can file their income taxes individually or jointly, whichever gives them the greatest tax break...
...People could spend as much as they wanted on ads and brochures that said, for instance, "A Global Outlook: Gore 2000," or "Ethics Matter: Anyone but Gore...
...on which a former Panther appeared as a guest...
...On the contrary, I call it accurate and to the point...
...If Roger and Linda were divorced or just living together, they would each be taxed at the lower 15 percent marginal tax rate for a tax bill of $3,592 each...
...Donors should give the parties amounts equal (at most) to their contributions to individual office-seekers...
...Our "foremothers," as she puts it, were more involved in child-rearing than she suspects...
...Mary d. May Benton, ar Just good Fun Iquite enjoyed your recent cover "Why Al Gore Got in Bed with Ellen" (Nov...
...Most families with one wage-earner pay less in taxes when they file jointly...
...Corporations and unions should neither give money to candidates nor coerce workers into funding political activities...
...Contrary to the point of view shared by Carlson and Blankenhorn, our bill does not "increase regressivity" in the tax code by easing the tax burden on "affluent" two-earner couples...
...James Ledbetter New York, NY Mean Like Me David Brooks's "Elegy for the New York Left": (Nov...
...Mclntosh-Weller would clearly say to at-home parents: You are not valued...
...In other words, Roger and Linda's penalty for getting and staying married is $1,378 per year...
...But why do it the wrong way...
...For example, when a husband, Roger, earns $30,500, and his wife, Linda, also earns $30,500, they are taxed at the 28 percent marginal rate, for a total tax bill of $8,563...
...A tax reform that encouraged married couples to file separate returns would not reflect the economic reality of marriage...
...Congress needs to put a priority on correcting the worst perversions of our tax code as we work toward fundamental reform...
...Our bill lets them keep this bonus...
...The Marriage Tax Elimination Act allows husbands and wives who both work to stay married, file as individuals, and remove their penalty...
Vol. 3 • December 1997 • No. 12
