I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2446

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend the 

marriage penalty tax relief enacted by the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief 

Reconciliation Act of 2003. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2003

Mr. WELLER (for himself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. CRANE, Mr. 

HAYWORTH, Mr. HAYES, Mr. NEY, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. 

WAMP, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. TERRY, 

Mrs. MYRICK, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently 

extend the marriage penalty tax relief enacted by the 

Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Permanent Marriage 

5 Tax Elimination Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN STANDARD DEDUCTION FOR MARRIED 

2 TAXPAYERS FILING JOINT RETURNS MADE 

3 PERMANENT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 63(c) of 

5 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to basic 

6 standard deduction), as amended by section 301 of the 

7 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 

8 2001 and section 103 of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief 

9 Reconciliation Act of 2003, is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(2) BASIC STANDARD DEDUCTION.—For pur11 poses of paragraph (1), the basic standard deduction 

12 is—

13 ‘‘(A) 200 percent of the dollar amount in 

14 effect under subparagraph (C) for the taxable 

15 year in the case of—

16 ‘‘(i) a joint return, or 

17 ‘‘(ii) a surviving spouse (as defined in 

18 section 2(a)), 

19 ‘‘(B) $4,400 in the case of a head of 

20 household (as defined in section 2(b)), or 

21 ‘‘(C) $3,000 in any other case.’’. 

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

23 (1) Section 63(c)(4) of such Code, as amended 

24 by section 301 of such Act, is amended by striking 

25 ‘‘(2)(D)’’ each place it occurs and inserting 

26 ‘‘(2)(C)’’. 
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1 (2) Section 63(c) of such Code, as so amended, 

2 is amended by striking paragraph (7). 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

5 December 31, 2003. 

6 SEC. 3. ACCELERATION OF 15-PERCENT INDIVIDUAL IN7 COME TAX RATE BRACKET EXPANSION FOR 

8 MARRIED TAXPAYERS FILING JOINT RE9 TURNS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (8) of section 1(f ) of 

11 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to phaseout 

12 of marriage penalty in 15-percent bracket), as amended 

13 by section 302 of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief 

14 Reconciliation Act of 2001 and section 102 of the Jobs 

15 and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, is 

16 amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(8) ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN

18 15-PERCENT BRACKET.—With respect to taxable 

19 years beginning after December 31, 2002, in pre20 scribing the tables under paragraph (1)—

21 ‘‘(A) the maximum taxable income in the 

22 15 percent rate bracket in the table contained 

23 in subsection (a) (and the minimum taxable in24 come in the next higher taxable income bracket 

25 in such table) shall be 200 percent of the max-
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1 imum taxable income in the 15-percent rate 

2 bracket in the table contained in subsection (c) 

3 (after any other adjustment under this sub4 section), and 

5 ‘‘(B) the comparable taxable income 

6 amounts in the table contained in subsection 

(d) shall be 1 7 ⁄2 of the amounts determined 

8 under subparagraph (A).’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 

10 subsection (f ) of section 1 of such Code, as so amended, 

11 is amended by striking ‘‘PHASEOUT’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘ELIMINATION’’. 

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

15 December 31, 2002. 

16 SEC. 4. PROVISIONS MADE PERMANENT. 

17 Title IX of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Rec18 onciliation Act of 2001 shall not apply to—

19 (1) the amendments made by sections 301 and 

20 302 of such Act, and 

21 (2) the amendments made by this Act.

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