Reply #15: I think people are misunderstanding this

[Quahog]

Despite the "family values" blather of Rep. Weller, this is not some special "perk" for marrieds. The way the tax code was written, in some income brackets a married couple filing jointly would pay MORE tax than two people with the exact same jobs living at the exact same address who were single and filing separately. It didn't make sense. Some retirees and couples living on fixed incomes actually got legally divorced because of the money they stood to save. This new bill is an attempt to make this all more equitable. It's removing a penalty that was unjust. Unmarrieds who are cohabitating (straight, gay, whatever) are not going to be hit with a tax INCREASE because of this.

Having said that, I remember reading somewhere a few years back that this only affects something like 4-5% of all married couples. So it's not like that many people are really reaping the benefits of this. It's a feel-good bill, though. I'd be interested to hear the reasoning of the 95 who voted against it (probably just concerned about further reductions in revenues for the federal government and the inevitable ballooning of the defecit).