Law Commons^™

Facing The Sunset: An Egalitarian Approach Against Taxing Couples As A Unit, James M. Puckett

Journal Articles

With the sunset of marriage penalty relief in 2025, Congress has a bittersweet opportunity to align the taxable unit with the guiding norm of taxation according to "ability to pay." The federal income tax brackets have been designed around a misguided and poorly targeted assumption that comparing married couples is appropriate, whether because of pooling income, economies of scale, or untaxed housework and caregiving. This Article argues that the individual, rather than (married) couples, should emerge as the unit for income taxation under an egalitarian approach to distributive justice.

Welfarist insights and egalitarian arguments sometimes align on solutions to tax …