II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1285

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that married couples

may file a combined return under which each spouse is taxed using

the rates applicable to unmarried individuals.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 9, 1997

Mr. FAIRCLOTH (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. MACK, Mr. LOTT, Mr.

ABRAHAM, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. BROWNBACK,

Mr. BURNS, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. CRAIG,

Mr. D’AMATO, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. FRIST, Mr. GORTON, Mr. GRAMM, Mr.

GRAMS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HAGEL, Mr. HELMS, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

INHOFE, Mr. KYL, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr.

MURKOWSKI, Mr. NICKLES, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr.

THOMAS, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. WARNER, and Ms. SNOWE) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide

that married couples may file a combined return under

which each spouse is taxed using the rates applicable

to unmarried individuals.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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•S 1285 IS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marriage Tax Elimi3 nation Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. COMBINED RETURN TO WHICH UNMARRIED RATES

5 APPLY.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part II of sub7 chapter A of chapter 61 of the Internal Revenue Code of

8 1986 (relating to income tax returns) is amended by in9 serting after section 6013 the following new section:

10 ‘‘SEC. 6013A. COMBINED RETURN WITH SEPARATE RATES.

11 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—A husband and wife may

12 make a combined return of income taxes under subtitle

13 A under which—

14 ‘‘(1) a separate taxable income is determined

15 for each spouse by applying the rules provided in

16 this section, and

17 ‘‘(2) the tax imposed by section 1 is the aggre18 gate amount resulting from applying the separate

19 rates set forth in section 1(c) to each such taxable

20 income.

21 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF TAXABLE INCOME.—

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection

23 (a)(1), the taxable income for each spouse shall be

24 one-half of the taxable income computed as if the

25 spouses were filing a joint return.
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•S 1285 IS

1 ‘‘(2) NONITEMIZERS.—For purposes of para2 graph (1), if an election is made not to itemize de3 ductions for any taxable year, the basic standard de4 duction shall be equal to the amount which is twice

5 the basic standard deduction under section

6 63(c)(2)(C) for the taxable year.

7 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF CREDITS.—Credits shall be de8 termined (and applied against the joint liability of the cou9 ple for tax) as if the spouses had filed a joint return.

10 ‘‘(d) TREATMENT AS JOINT RETURN.—Except as

11 otherwise provided in this section or in the regulations

12 prescribed hereunder, for purposes of this title (other than

13 sections 1 and 63(c)) a combined return under this section

14 shall be treated as a joint return.

15 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe

16 such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to

17 carry out this section.’’

18 (b) UNMARRIED RATE MADE APPLICABLE.—So

19 much of subsection (c) of section 1 of such Code as pre20 cedes the table is amended to read as follows:

21 ‘‘(c) SEPARATE OR UNMARRIED RETURN RATE.—

22 There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every

23 individual (other than a married individual (as defined in

24 section 7703) filing a joint return or a separate return,

25 a surviving spouse as defined in section 2(a), or a head
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•S 1285 IS

1 of household as defined in section 2(b)) a tax determined

2 in accordance with the following table:’’.

3 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

4 for subpart B of part II of subchapter A of chapter 61

5 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat6 ing to section 6013 the following:

‘‘Sec. 6013A. Combined return with separate rates.’’

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

8 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

9 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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