The 1969 Act cut the singles penalty but squeezed dual-earner couples

Evidence

In response, Congress enacted the Tax Reform Act of 1969, which significantly reduced the penalty for unmarried taxpayers. The tax brackets were changed to cap the singles’ penalty at 20 percent; no longer would single taxpayers pay 40 percent higher taxes than their married counterparts with equal household incomes. Dr. Huf got something, but not everything he wanted. As part of the deal, married couples like the Seaborns got a reduced marriage bonus and a smaller tax cut. Still, married couples with one stay-at-home spouse—by 1970, roughly 60 percent of married white women fell into this category—paid less in taxes than they would have if they’d remained single. The truly bad news was reserved for couples making roughly equivalent income—couples like my parents. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 118

Categorization

• XREF: The dual-earner couple penalty — couples ‘like my parents’ — is the structural precursor to the racial impact: black married women’s high labor-force participation meant the marriage penalty hit black couples hardest. Wait — this ties to the reader’s goal.