Comments on: Gird Your Loins. Marriage and Taxes.

By: Willow Drinkwater

Willow Drinkwater — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:27:38 +0000

And what’s this about living with Mom????

Love [Husband's] smile!

Mom

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:41:23 +0000

Yes, I would HOPE one wouldn’t choose to get married because of taxes. But, Husband still jokes about it all the time. (And, I can tell you my food bill alone defies the “2 can live cheaper than 1″ stuff.)

By: Tina T

Tina T — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:21:14 +0000

I remember way back in our first year of marriage when we didn’t know or understand about the marriage penalty. Our employers changed our withholding to “married” (which should make sense once you’re married) but employers take out less when you choose married over single even though you actually owe more in taxes. The theory behind the marriage penalty is that a married couple has less expenses than 2 single individuals (at least that’s what they told us in tax class.)

I cried when I saw what we owed that year, but there’s still no way that I would avoid marriage to save on taxes (even a tight wad like me isn’t that thrifty.)

By: Husband

Husband — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:27:18 +0000

I would like to clarify Wife’s characterization of the marriage penalty. It mostly affects two near equal earner couples and usually helps one earner couples. Let me also say that I am not AT ALL happy about anything related to the US Tax Code. No matter what your political, economic, or tax position, it’s hard to find anyone who is happy about the complexity of taxes (excepting a few tax preparers). Wife doesn’t want to know anything about taxes except what to pay and I can’t say I blame her. I admit, I do like the arrival of the Master Tax Guide because it attempts to add explanation to this year’s changes and to help navigate new tax situations. And no, I am not a masochist. Every small business owner needs some level of tax knowledge, unless you are so very fortunate to be married to someone who does.

By: Christine Louise Hohlbaum

Christine Louise Hohlbaum — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:47:10 +0000

You had me laughing at the teaser in my inbox. German tax code is equally unfair. I’ve been lobbed into a 50% tax bracket, thanks to Hubby. So when I receive that paycheck, I divide by two.

Sigh.