What are marriage penalties and bonuses?
Couples face a marriage penalty when they pay more income tax filing jointly as a married couple than they would if they had remained single and filed separately as individuals. Conversely, a marriage bonus occurs if a couple pays less tax filing jointly than they would if they were single. Under a progressive income tax, marriage penalties and bonuses arise because the household rather than the individual is the unit of taxation. Tax provisions that phase in or phase out with income also produce penalties or bonuses. Many more married couples receive bonuses than incur penalties. • Marriage penalties and bonuses result from the combination of progressive tax rates and taxation of a married couple as a single tax unit. With progressive taxes (which impose higher rates on higher incomes), combining spouses’ incomes can result in some income being taxed at higher rates than if spouses’ incomes were taxed separately. That can occur only if joint tax brackets are less than twice as wide as
