House GOP Tax Bill Benefits Love and Marriage, Penalizes Divorce

(Bloomberg) -- The House Republican tax bill is making marriage a lot more attractive.

The legislation released Thursday would end the so-called marriage penalty for many filers by adjusting income bracket thresholds. Married couples with similar incomes who file jointly often find their taxes are higher than they would have been if they filed separately.

For those who have gotten divorced, the legislation is less generous. Taxpayers making alimony payments would no longer be allowed to deduct the payments from their taxable income. The provision would be effective for any divorce decree or separation agreement executed after this year.

The move would amount to an elimination of what is a “divorce subsidy” under current law, “in that a divorced couple can often achieve a better tax result for payments between them than a married couple can,” according to a GOP summary of the bill.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Chipman in Chicago at kchipman@bloomberg.net, Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexis Leondis at aleondis@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.