106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 6

AN ACT

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to

reduce the marriage penalty by providing for adjustments to the standard deduction, 15-percentrate bracket, and earned income credit and to repeal the reduction of the refundable tax credits.
106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 6

AN ACT

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce

the marriage penalty by providing for adjustments to

the standard deduction, 15-percent rate bracket, and

earned income credit and to repeal the reduction of the

refundable tax credits.
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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, ETC.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Act of 2000’’.

6 (b) SECTION 15 NOT TO APPLY.—No amendment

7 made by this Act shall be treated as a change in a rate

8 of tax for purposes of section 15 of the Internal Revenue

9 Code of 1986.

10 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN STAND11 ARD DEDUCTION.

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

13 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to standard

14 deduction) is amended—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ in subparagraph (A)

16 and inserting ‘‘200 percent of the dollar amount in

17 effect under subparagraph (C) for the taxable year’’;

18 (2) by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

19 (B);

20 (3) by striking ‘‘in the case of’’ and all that fol21 lows in subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘in any

22 other case.’’; and

23 (4) by striking subparagraph (D).

24 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—
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1 (1) Subparagraph (B) of section 1(f )(6) of such

2 Code is amended by striking ‘‘(other than with’’ and

3 all that follows through ‘‘shall be applied’’ and in4 serting ‘‘(other than with respect to sections

5 63(c)(4) and 151(d)(4)(A)) shall be applied’’.

6 (2) Paragraph (4) of section 63(c) of such Code

7 is amended by adding at the end the following flush

8 sentence:

9 ‘‘The preceding sentence shall not apply to the

10 amount referred to in paragraph (2)(A).’’.

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

12 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

13 December 31, 2000.

14 SEC. 3. PHASEOUT OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN 15-PERCENT

15 BRACKET; REPEAL OF REDUCTION OF RE16 FUNDABLE TAX CREDITS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f ) of section 1 of the

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to adjustments

19 in tax tables so that inflation will not result in tax in20 creases) is amended by adding at the end the following

21 new paragraph:

22 ‘‘(8) PHASEOUT OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN 15-

23 PERCENT BRACKET.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to tax2 able years beginning after December 31, 2002,

3 in prescribing the tables under paragraph (1)—

4 ‘‘(i) the maximum taxable income in

5 the lowest rate bracket in the table con6 tained in subsection (a) (and the minimum

7 taxable income in the next higher taxable

8 income bracket in such table) shall be the

9 applicable percentage of the maximum tax10 able income in the lowest rate bracket in

11 the table contained in subsection (c) (after

12 any other adjustment under this sub13 section), and

14 ‘‘(ii) the comparable taxable income

15 amounts in the table contained in subsection (d) shall be 1 16 ⁄2 of the amounts de17 termined under clause (i).

18 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGE.—For

19 purposes of subparagraph (A), the applicable

20 percentage shall be determined in accordance

21 with the following table:

‘‘For taxable years beginning The applicable

in calendar year— percentage is—

2003 ............................................................................. 170.3

2004 ............................................................................. 173.8

2005 ............................................................................. 183.5

2006 ............................................................................. 184.3

2007 ............................................................................. 187.9

2008 and thereafter ..................................................... 200.0.
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1 ‘‘(C) ROUNDING.—If any amount deter2 mined under subparagraph (A)(i) is not a mul3 tiple of $50, such amount shall be rounded to

4 the next lowest multiple of $50.’’.

5 (b) REPEAL OF REDUCTION OF REFUNDABLE TAX

6 CREDITS.—

7 (1) Subsection (d) of section 24 of such Code

8 is amended by striking paragraph (2) and redesig9 nating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2).

10 (2) Section 32 of such Code is amended by

11 striking subsection (h).

12 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—

13 (1) Subparagraph (A) of section 1(f )(2) of such

14 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘except as provided in

15 paragraph (8),’’ before ‘‘by increasing’’.

16 (2) The heading for subsection (f ) of section 1

17 of such Code is amended by inserting ‘‘PHASEOUT

18 OF MARRIAGE PENALTY IN 15-PERCENT BRACKET;’’

19 before ‘‘ADJUSTMENTS’’.

20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by para22 graph (2), the amendments made by this section

23 shall apply to taxable years beginning after Decem24 ber 31, 2002.
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1 (2) REPEAL OF REDUCTION OF REFUNDABLE

2 TAX CREDITS.—The amendments made by sub3 section (b) shall apply to taxable years beginning

4 after December 31, 2001.

5 SEC. 4. MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF FOR EARNED INCOME

6 CREDIT.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 32(b) of

8 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to percent9 ages and amounts) is amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘AMOUNTS.—The earned’’ and

11 inserting ‘‘AMOUNTS.—

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara13 graph (B), the earned’’; and

14 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub15 paragraph:

16 ‘‘(B) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of a

17 joint return, the phaseout amount determined

18 under subparagraph (A) shall be increased by

19 $2,000.’’.

20 (b) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Paragraph (1)(B) of

21 section 32( j) of such Code (relating to inflation adjust22 ments) is amended to read as follows:

23 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter24 mined under section 1(f )(3) for the calendar
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1 year in which the taxable year begins,

2 determined—

3 ‘‘(i) in the case of amounts in sub4 sections (b)(2)(A) and (i)(1), by sub5 stituting ‘calendar year 1995’ for ‘calendar

6 year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) thereof,

7 and

8 ‘‘(ii) in the case of the $2,000 amount

9 in subsection (b)(2)(B), by substituting

10 ‘calendar year 2000’ for ‘calendar year

11 1992’ in subparagraph (B) of such section

12 1.’’.

13 (c) ROUNDING.—Section 32( j)(2)(A) of such Code

14 (relating to rounding) is amended by striking ‘‘subsection

15 (b)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)(A) (after being

16 increased under subparagraph (B) thereof)’’.

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

18 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

19 December 31, 2000.

Passed the House of Representatives February 10,

2000.

Attest:

Clerk.