TAXES: The Bachelor’s Bite

Among the penalties for remaining unmarried in the U.S. has been a disproportionately high income tax rate. Under the tax-rate schedules there seemed to lurk a sort of nagging, bureaucratized mother’s voice: “When are you going to get married? Believe me, it’s cheaper.” In some ways, it was. For 1970, a single person with a taxable income of $12,000 will pay 25% more in taxes than married couples with the same combined income —$2,830 v. $2,260. But as part of the 1969 Tax Reform Act, in filing returns for 1971 the same single person will have to pay only $2,630, or 16% more than the couple.