What I'm specifically pointing out is that, if my partner is officially married to me, her 20K is added to my salary (let's say 100K for arguments sake) And now

What I'm specifically pointing out is that, if my partner is officially married to me, her 20K is added to my salary (let's say 100K for arguments sake) And now, according to the government, we make 120K. We are placed in that 120K married bracket which is NOT a whole lot different that say someone making 80-100K individually. But, if you divide by two: 120 becomes 60K each. Being married in the USA has very little financial advantage.