I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5170
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce the marriage penalty
by providing for adjustments to the standard deduction and the earned
income credit and to repeal the reduction of the refundable tax credits.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD 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 reduce
the marriage penalty by providing for adjustments to
the standard deduction and the earned income credit
and to repeal the reduction of the refundable tax credits.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tive of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Common Sense Mar-
riage Tax Relief Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) According to a 1999 Department of the
Treasury study, of the 51,400,000 joint returns filed
in 1999, approximately—
(A) 48 percent will incur a marriage tax
penalty,
(B) 41 percent will incur a marriage tax
bonus, and
(C) 11 percent will generally be unaffected.
(2) The average marriage tax penalty in 1999
will reach $1,141 per couple, according to the De-
partment of the Treasury study.
(3) At least 66 provisions in the existing tax
code treat married couples differently from single fil-
ers, according to the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants.
(4) Married working women, on average, earn
approximately 60 percent of their husband’s salary,
according to the Bureau of the Census. The wage
gap between women and men is 73 percent for Cau-
casian women, 63 percent for African-American
women, and 53 percent for Hispanic women, accord-
ing to the National Committee on Pay Equity.
(5) Approximately 40 percent of married moth-
ers in the United States stay at home to raise their
young children full time while almost no fathers do,
according to the Bureau of the Census.
(6) Although the United States tax code is neu-
tral, it is biased against secondary earners, who are
overwhelmingly women.
(7) Because of the progressive marginal rates in
the tax code, one spouse earning $25,000 per year
would be taxed entirely at the 15 percent rate; but
if the other spouse also earns $25,000, a portion of
the other spouse’s income would be taxed at the 28
percent rate.
(8) Regardless of marital status, once an indi-
vidual’s reported income level reaches beyond the
earned income tax credit threshold, she or he auto-
matically loses this benefit. As a result, newly mar-
ried couples struggling to escape poverty suddenly
lose this vital tax benefit simply because they are no
longer single.
SEC. 3. MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF.
(a) STANDARD DEDUCTION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section
63(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relat-
ing to standard deduction) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ in subparagraph
(A) and inserting ‘‘twice the dollar amount in
effect under subparagraph (C) for the taxable
year’’,
(B) by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (B),
(C) by striking ‘‘in the case of’’ and all
that follows in subparagraph (C) and inserting
‘‘in any other case.’’, and
(D) by striking subparagraph (D).
(2) INCREASE ALLOWED AS DEDUCTION IN DE-
TERMINING
MINIMUM
TAX.—Subparagraph (E) of
section 56(b)(1) of such Code is amended by adding
at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The pre-
ceding sentence shall not apply to so much of the
standard deduction under subparagraph (A) of sec-
tion 63(c)(2) as exceeds the amount which would be
such deduction but for the amendment made by sec-
tion 2(a)(1) of the Penalty Relief From Marriage
Tax Act of 2000.’’
(3) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—
(A) Subparagraph (B) of section 1(f)(6) of
such Code is amended by striking ‘‘(other than
with’’ and all that follows through ‘‘shall be ap-
plied’’ and inserting ‘‘(other than with respect
to sections 63(c)(4) and 151(d)(4)(A)) shall be
applied’’.
(B) Paragraph (4) of section 63(c) of such
Code is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing flush sentence:
‘‘The preceding sentence shall not apply to the
amount referred to in paragraph (2)(A).’’
(b) EARNED INCOME CREDIT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 32
of such Code (relating to credit for earned income)
is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(3) REDUCTION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a joint
return, the phaseout amount under this section
shall be such amount (determined without re-
gard to this paragraph) increased by $2,500
($2,000 in the case of taxable years beginning
during 2001).
‘‘(B) INFLATION
ADJUSTMENT.—In the
case of any taxable year beginning in a calendar
year after 2002, the $2,500 amount contained
in subparagraph (A) shall be increased by an
amount equal to the product of—
‘‘(i) such dollar amount, and
‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de-
termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal-
endar year in which the taxable year be-
gins, determined by substituting ‘calendar
year 2001’ for ‘calendar year 1992’ in sub-
paragraph (B) thereof.
If any increase determined under the preceding
sentence is not a multiple of $50, such increase
shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of
$50.’’
(2) REPEAL OF REDUCTION OF REFUNDABLE
TAX CREDITS.—
(A) Subsection (d) of section 24 of such
Code is amended by striking paragraph (2) and
redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2).
(B) Section 32 of such Code is amended by
striking subsection (h).
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after
December 31, 2000.
SEC. 4. TAX REDUCTIONS CONTINGENT ON SOCIAL SECU-
RITY AND MEDICARE SOLVENCY CERTIFI-
CATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of this Act, no provision of this Act (or amendment
made thereby) shall take effect until there is—
(1) a social security certification,
(2) a medicare certification, and
(3) a public debt elimination certification.
(b) 
DEFINITIONS.—For 
purposes 
of 
this
subsection—
(1) SOCIAL
SECURITY
SOLVENCY
CERTIFI-
CATION.—The term ‘‘social security solvency certifi-
cation’’ means a certification by the Board of Trust-
ees of the Social Security Trust Funds that the Fed-
eral Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund
and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund
are in actuarial balance until the year 2050.
(2) MEDICARE
SOLVENCY
CERTIFICATION.—
The term ‘‘medicare solvency certification’’ means a
certification by the Board of Trustees of the Federal
Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that such Trust
Fund is in actuarial balance until the year 2030.
(3) 
PUBLIC
DEBT
ELIMINATION
CERTIFI-
CATION.—There is a public debt elimination certifi-
cation if the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget certifies that, taking into account the
tax reductions made by this Act and other legislation
enacted during calendar year 2000, the national
debt held by the public is projected to be eliminated
by the year 2013.
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