Crapo, Risch, Colleagues Call Out Harmful Marriage Penalties in Democrats’ Reckless Tax Proposals

Washington, D.C.--In response to the harmful tax penalties for married couples included in the Democrats’ reckless tax-and-spending spree, U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and 30 additional Republican colleagues sent a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to remove any proposals that would discourage marriage.                  

“Federal policy should be designed to foster strong marriages, which are the foundation of strong families and strong communities,” the senators wrote.  “Unfortunately, despite its original rollout as part of the ‘American Families Plan,’ the current draft of the reconciliation bill takes an existing marriage penalty in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and makes it significantly worse.  This is not the only marriage penalty created or worsened by the partisan bill.” 

“We believe that marriage is a vital social good.  It is misguided and unfair for the government to build bigger barriers for couples to marry,” the senators continued.       

Additional members sending the letter include: Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-Louisiana), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio),  Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Todd Young (R-Indiana) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).  

Full text of the letter can be found here. 

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