Olde Hornet
Well-Known Member
Black married couples pay a higher ‘marriage penalty’ on taxes than white couples, study finds
Why do Black couples pay a bigger “marriage penalty” on their taxes?
So, a married couple would be able to take only as much as $10,000. Two people filing separately could each take $10,000. Hence a “marriage penalty.”
Prior to the 2017 law, taxpayers could usually deduct any amount they had paid in state or local taxes, a notable benefit to people in much of California, where property taxes tend to be higher.
In 2018, the average deduction for state and local taxes could have been: In El Dorado County, $19,344, Placer County, $19,246, Fresno County, $16,632, San Luis Obispo County, $16,536, Sacramento County, $14,338, San Joaquin County, $14,153, Merced County, $11,604 and Stanislaus County, $13,861. The data were compiled by the Tax Foundation, a Washington research group.
Congressional Democrats from urban areas have pushed hard to eliminate the limit on the deduction, but they’ve gotten nowhere. And with Republicans controlling the House, any effort will probably stall again.
Trying to ease the penalty for Black taxpayers would be nearly impossible.
“There’s no easy solution to the racial disparities in the tax treatment of marriage in a tax code that doesn’t explicitly refer to race,” the Tax Policy Center study says.
The penalty is created when two wage earners make roughly equal amounts of money as they file jointly, thus kicking them into a higher tax bracket. Rates increase as incomes go up.