House Votes to Permanently End Tax Code’s ‘Marriage Penalty’

WASHINGTON —  The House voted Wednesday to permanently end the tax code’s “marriage penalty” in the first of a series of Republican efforts to highlight popular elements of President Bush’s tax cuts before the November election.

As part of Bush’s 2001 tax cut, Congress voted to end a quirk in the law that forced many married couples to pay more in taxes if they filed jointly than if they filed as individuals. But the tax relief was temporary, with the benefit decreasing next year and expiring at the end of the decade.

Eliminating the marriage penalty is one of the few provisions of Bush’s tax cuts that his presumptive Democratic opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, has said he supports. The measure cleared the House on a strong 323-95 vote.

But it is likely to face resistance in the Senate, where even some members of Bush’s party have expressed concern about making permanent some tax cuts at a time of record budget deficits. Repealing the marriage penalty would cost the Treasury $105 billion over the next decade.

Bush has urged Congress to permanently extend the $1.7 trillion in tax cuts, contending that failing to do so would lead to tax increases and could slow economic growth.

“Tax relief has greatly helped the economy weather the storms of recent years and fueled the economic recovery underway today,” the White House said in a statement.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), a leading advocate of repealing the tax, said she believed that the Senate would extend the relief, but acknowledged that it would be difficult to win approval this year for ending it altogether.

Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, an Arlington, Va.,-based budget watchdog group, described the House vote as “more politics than policy.”

“Permanent tax cut extensions are going nowhere in the Senate this year,” he added.

The measure approved by the House on Wednesday, like the 2001 tax cut, goes beyond providing tax relief to couples who paid a marriage penalty -- an estimated 42% of all joint filers -- and gives relief to all married couples.

The measure would make permanent the provisions of the 2001 tax cut that increased the standard deduction and 15% tax bracket for married couples to twice that of single taxpayers. The relief was accelerated in a tax bill signed last year. Also reduced was the penalty for low-income couples who receive the earned-income tax credit.

Unless the relief is extended, 27 million couples face an average tax increase of $300 next year and 35 million couples face an average increase of $700 in 2011, the bill’s proponents said.

Although 102 Democrats joined 220 Republicans and one independent in voting for the measure, Democrats expressed concern that the GOP-drafted bill failed to address the cost of making the tax cut permanent -- a cost that would hit the government hard as baby boomers begin to retire, increasing pressure on Social Security and Medicare.

Democrats sought to make up for lost revenue and provide tax relief to more middle-income families by imposing a surtax on annual earnings in excess of $1 million, but that was rejected on a largely party-line vote.

Republicans, who control the House, plan votes in coming weeks to make permanent other family-friendly elements of Bush’s tax cuts, including an increase in the child tax credit and an expansion in the number of taxpayers in the lowest 10% tax bracket.

Advocates of the tax cuts contend that they will stimulate economic growth, offsetting any losses to the Treasury.

All California Republicans supported the bill. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach, whose wife gave birth to triplets Tuesday, was absent.

The state’s Democratic delegation split, with 17 members voting against the Republican-drafted bill and 14 voting for it.

Voting no were Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles; Howard L. Berman of North Hollywood; Lois Capps of Santa Barbara; Sam Farr of Carmel; Michael M. Honda of San Jose; Tom Lantos of San Mateo; Barbara Lee of Oakland; George Miller of Martinez; Grace F. Napolitano of Norwalk; Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco; Lucille Roybal-Allard of East Los Angeles; Linda T. Sanchez of Lakewood; Hilda L. Solis of El Monte; Pete Stark of Hayward; Diane E. Watson and Henry A. Waxman, both of Los Angeles; and Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma.

Mike Thompson of St. Helena and Maxine Waters of Los Angeles did not vote; all others voted in favor.