Tax brackets make the it worse as income rises. True, the numbers vary from couple to couple. Budding Romance Imagine two couples considering marriage. These laws were first written about 50 years ago. Two-earner couples were rare.
Some expense is saved by living together.
Congress wrote the laws to help families as they existed at the time. New Millennium Couple Times change. Today two-earner couples are the norm. Stay single and pay lower tax. No Sure Cure Current proposals look at the standard deduction and tax brackets.