Room for Debate: Should Tax Rates Penalize Marriage?

Will Wilkinson, blogger, The Economist

It's wrong to rig the system to either encourage or discourage marriage, or to push us to buy rather than rent our homes.

Joan Entmacher, National Women's Law Center

Some experts have proposed taxing income individually, ignoring marriages. But would it make the tax code fairer?

Melissa Murray and Dennis J. Ventry, law professors

The current structure thwarts efforts to create a more egalitarian society, conflicting with evolving gender roles and proliferating family forms.

W. Bradford Wilcox, National Marriage Project

Marriage would push many low-income families just above income thresholds for programs like housing assistance and food stamps.

Edward J. McCaffery, author, "Taxing Women"

Even in a world of "Ozzie and Harriet" families where many taxpayers benefited, the only rationale was to push married women to stay home.