The rise and fall and rise ... of the marriage tax

In this paper, we use household data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to calculate the real value of the so-called ''marriage tax'' or ''marriage subsidy'' in the federal individual income tax over the period 1967 to 1994. Our calculations demonstrate that the marriage tax/subsidy can be calculated in numerous defensible ways; its magnitude-in fact, its very existence-is quite sensitive to the assumptions made about financial arrangements outside of marriage. Our calculations also demonstrate that the average tax or subsidy has varied substantially over time. These changes are due both to changes in the tax code and, especially, to changes in family characteristics over this period.