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July 11, 2000
(House Rules)
H.R. 4810 - Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000
(Archer (R) Texas)
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 4810. As the Administration's
Fiscal 2001 Budget makes clear, the Administration supports targeted
marriage penalty relief. The Administration supports the Democratic
efforts in both the House and Senate that provide targeted marriage penalty
relief. However, H.R. 4810, standing on its own, is insufficiently
focused, with too small a share of benefits to lower- and middle-income
taxpayers and too large a share devoted to couples who do not suffer
marriage penalties. If this bill in its current form were presented to the
President, the President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto it.
While this bill is not the Administration's preferred approach, the
President is committed to moving forward cooperatively this year on
marriage penalty relief and other important Administration priorities. If
bipartisan agreement can be reached to take Medicare off budget and not use
Medicare money for tax cuts or for other spending, and if Congress will
pass a plan that gives real, voluntary Medicare prescription drug coverage,
available and affordable to all seniors and consistent with the principles
of the Administration's plan, the President will sign a marriage penalty
relief law that is similar in scale.
Pay-As-You-Go Scoring
H.R. 4810 would affect receipts; therefore, it is subject to the
pay-as-you-go requirements of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1990. The magnitude of the proposed tax cut ($2.8 billion in FY 2001,
according to the Treasury Department) and the absence of any offsets could
cause a significant sequester of Federal resources.
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