IB
Union Calendar No. 272
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4626
[Report No. 107–457]
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to accelerate the marriage
penalty relief in the standard deduction and to modify the work oppor-
tunity credit and the welfare-to-work credit.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 1, 2002
Mr. HOUGHTON (for himself and Mr. WELLER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
MAY 14, 2002
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 1, 2002]
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to accelerate
the marriage penalty relief in the standard deduction
and to modify the work opportunity credit and the wel-
fare-to-work credit.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Encouraging Work and
Supporting Marriage Act of 2002’’.
TITLE I—ACCELERATION OF
MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF
SEC. 101. ACCELERATION OF INCREASE IN STANDARD DE-
DUCTION FOR JOINT RETURNS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (7) of section 63(c) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section
301 of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation
Act of 2001, is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(7) APPLICABLE
PERCENTAGE.—For purposes
of paragraph (2), the applicable percentage shall be
determined in accordance with the following table:
‘‘For taxable years beginning
The applicable
in calendar year—
percentage is—
2003 or 2004 ......................................................................
170
2005 ....................................................................................
174
2006 ....................................................................................
184
2007 ....................................................................................
187
2008 ....................................................................................
190
2009 and thereafter ...........................................................
200.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (d) of sec-
tion 301 of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconcili-
ation Act of 2001 is amended by striking ‘‘December 31,
2004’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2002’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this
section shall apply to taxable years beginning after Decem-
ber 31, 2002.
TITLE 
II—MODIFICATIONS 
TO
WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT
AND 
WELFARE-TO-WORK
CREDIT
SEC. 201. MODIFICATIONS TO WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT
AND WELFARE-TO-WORK CREDIT.
(a) ELIGIBILITY OF EX-FELONS DETERMINED WITH-
OUT REGARD TO FAMILY INCOME.—Paragraph (4) of sec-
tion 51(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended
by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (A), by strik-
ing ‘‘, and’’ at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting
a period, and by striking all that follows subparagraph (B).
(b) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM AGE FOR ELIGIBILITY OF
FOOD
STAMP
RECIPIENTS.—Clause 
(i) 
of 
section
51(d)(8)(A) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘25’’ and
inserting ‘‘30’’.
(c) CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS
UNDER INDIVIDUAL WORK PLANS.—Subparagraph (B) of
section 51(d)(6) of such Code (relating to vocational reha-
bilitation referral) is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end
of clause (i), by striking the period at the end of clause
(ii) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new clause:
‘‘(iii) an individual work plan devel-
oped and implemented by an employment
network pursuant to subsection (g) of sec-
tion 1148 of the Social Security Act with
respect to which the requirements of such
subsection are met.’’
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this
section shall apply to individuals who begin work for the
employer after December 31, 2002.
SEC. 202. CONSOLIDATION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT
WITH WELFARE-TO-WORK CREDIT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 51(d) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking
‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph (G), by striking the period
at the end of subparagraph (H) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(I) a long-term family assistance recipi-
ent.’’
(b) LONG-TERM FAMILY ASSISTANCE RECIPIENT.—
Subsection (d) of section 51 of such Code is amended by
redesignating paragraphs (10) through (12) as paragraphs
(11) through (13), respectively, and by inserting after para-
graph (9) the following new paragraph:
‘‘(10) LONG-TERM FAMILY ASSISTANCE RECIPI-
ENT.—The term ‘long-term family assistance recipi-
ent’ means any individual who is certified by the des-
ignated local agency—
‘‘(A) as being a member of a family receiv-
ing assistance under a IV–A program (as defined
in paragraph (2)(B)) for at least the 18-month
period ending on the hiring date,
‘‘(B)(i) as being a member of a family re-
ceiving such assistance for 18 months beginning
after August 5, 1997, and
‘‘(ii) as having a hiring date which is not
more than 2 years after the end of the earliest
such 18-month period, or
‘‘(C)(i) as being a member of a family
which ceased to be eligible for such assistance by
reason of any limitation imposed by Federal or
State law on the maximum period such assist-
ance is payable to a family, and
‘‘(ii) as having a hiring date which is not
more than 2 years after the date of such ces-
sation.’’
(c) INCREASED CREDIT FOR EMPLOYMENT OF LONG-
TERM FAMILY ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS.—Section 51 of
such Code is amended by inserting after subsection (d) the
following new subsection:
‘‘(e) CREDIT FOR SECOND-YEAR WAGES FOR EMPLOY-
MENT OF LONG-TERM FAMILY ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the employ-
ment of a long-term family assistance recipient—
‘‘(A) the amount of the work opportunity
credit determined under this section for the tax-
able year shall include 40 percent of the qualified
second-year wages for such year, and
‘‘(B) in lieu of applying subsection (b)(3),
the amount of the qualified first-year wages, and
the amount of qualified second-year wages, which
may be taken into account with respect to such
a recipient shall not exceed $10,000 per year.
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED
SECOND-YEAR
WAGES.—For
purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified second-
year wages’ means qualified wages—
‘‘(A) which are paid to a long-term family
assistance recipient, and
‘‘(B) which are attributable to service ren-
dered during the 1-year period beginning on the
day after the last day of the 1-year period with
respect to such recipient determined under sub-
section (b)(2).
‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR AGRICULTURAL AND
RAILWAY LABOR.—If such recipient is an employee to
whom subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (h)(1)
applies, rules similar to the rules of such subpara-
graphs shall apply except that—
‘‘(A) such subparagraph (A) shall be ap-
plied by substituting ‘$10,000’ for ‘$6,000’, and
‘‘(B) such subparagraph (B) shall be ap-
plied by substituting ‘$833.33’ for ‘$500’.’’
(d) REPEAL OF SEPARATE WELFARE-TO-WORK CRED-
IT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 51A of such Code is
hereby repealed.
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for subpart F of part IV of subchapter A of
chapter 1 of such Code is amended by striking the
item relating to section 51A.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this
section shall apply to individuals who begin work for the
employer after December 31, 2002.
Union Calendar No. 272
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4626
[Report No. 107–457]
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
accelerate the marriage penalty relief in the
standard deduction and to modify the work op-
portunity credit and the welfare-to-work credit.
MAY 14, 2002
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed