Taxation and Marriage: A Reappraisal

Marriage taxation presents a trilemma : An income tax cannot simultaneously maintain progressive marginal tax rates, an equal tax burden for all married couples with identical incomes ( couples equity ), and neutrality with respect to the tax burden of married versus unmarried couples ( marriage neutrality ). In this Article, I assume that the principles of couples equity and marriage neutrality both have merit. Alternatively, I assume that the principles proxy for some more fundamental principles that result in an analogous trilemma. I also assume that the costs of deviations from either principle are convex; large deviations from either principle are disproportionately distasteful relative to small deviations