It makes sense. Income taxes are progressive, which means you pay (percentually) more the more you earn. Let's see an example. Say that the payer earns 120k pr

It makes sense. Income taxes are progressive, which means you pay (percentually) more the more you earn. Let's see an example. Say that the payer earns 120k pre-tax. Now: a) If you tax the recipient the judge orders a 60k/60k split. After the split both parties get taxed for 60k, which lands them on the 22% marginal tax rate bracket. In the end each party effectively pays 11k in taxes, and hence gets 49k post-taxes. b) If you tax the earner they pay taxes first, hitting the 24% tax rate bracket and effectively paying ~29k in taxes. So you spit the remaining 91k and each party gets 45.5k post-taxes. Definitely a lose-lose. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#Marginal_tax_rates_for_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_State...