This was not my experience at all. When my wife and I married and combined incomes we jumped a bracket, didn't qualify for IRA withholding, tuition credits (I w

This was not my experience at all. When my wife and I married and combined incomes we jumped a bracket, didn't qualify for IRA withholding, tuition credits (I was in night school at the time), or DC's first time home buyer's credit. Two people with career salaries are much better off (with respect to taxes) before marriage... yes, we gamed out filing jointly and separately - we got hosed either way.