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>That's basically already the case because of progressive tax brackets. Progressive tax brackets work against single income families? Do you mean combined tax
by seoulmetro 2y ago
>That's basically already the case because of progressive tax brackets.
Progressive tax brackets work against single income families? Do you mean combined tax declaring? I know the US is different to most of the world. But in most of the world income is a reflection of an individual not their family.
It is impossible to combine incomes in a single tax declaration in lots of parts of the world.
- ndriscoll 2y agoIn the US, you have different tax status if you're married. There used to be a marriage "penalty" for dual income households because of progressive buckets (the combined income would push you into higher marginal rates). i.e. it would actually make sense to not officially get married for tax purposes. Trump mostly eliminated that, and now everything but the top marginal rate (above ~600k) has doubled thresholds when married. However merely using progressive rates isn't enough; people see it as a penalty for getting married, not having a dual income. You'd want something like a credit for stay-at-home childcare to directly incentivize it. Right now, we actually subsidize working parents through childcare tax credits/deductions. We could at least make this more neutral by eliminating childcare incentives and increasing the child tax credit.
- seoulmetro 2y agoAh so essentially the reverse perspective at a relief on single income earners. Yep! There needs to be more done, but the biggest reason dual incomes work are for paying bills and luxuries.