II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 15

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

JANUARY 19, 1999

Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BURNS,

Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. GRAMM, Mr. HAGEL,

Mr. KYL, Ms. SNOWE, and Mr. ALLARD) 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marriage Tax Elimi5 nation Act’’.
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•S 15 IS

1 SEC. 2. COMBINED RETURN TO WHICH UNMARRIED RATES

2 APPLY.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part II of sub4 chapter A of chapter 61 of the Internal Revenue Code of

5 1986 (relating to income tax returns) is amended by in6 serting after section 6013 the following new section:

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

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

9 make a combined return of income taxes under subtitle

10 A under which—

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

12 for each spouse by applying the rules provided in

13 this section, and

14 ‘‘(2) the tax imposed by section 1 is the aggre15 gate amount resulting from applying the separate

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

17 income.

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

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

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

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

22 spouses were filing a joint return.

23 ‘‘(2) NONITEMIZERS.—For purposes of para24 graph (1), if an election is made not to itemize de25 ductions for any taxable year, the basic standard de26 duction shall be equal to the amount which is twice
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1 the basic standard deduction under section

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

3 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF CREDITS.—Credits shall be de4 termined (and applied against the joint liability of the cou5 ple for tax) as if the spouses had filed a joint return.

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

7 otherwise provided in this section or in the regulations

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

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

10 shall be treated as a joint return.

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

12 such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to

13 carry out this section.’’

14 (b) UNMARRIED RATE MADE APPLICABLE.—So

15 much of subsection (c) of section 1 of such Code as pre16 cedes the table is amended to read as follows:

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

18 There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every

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

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

21 a surviving spouse as defined in section 2(a), or a head

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

23 in accordance with the following table:’’.

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

25 for subpart B of part II of subchapter A of chapter 61
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1 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 6013 the following:

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

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

4 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

5 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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