Jabus and Kelsey is a married couple with no children. Each earns $120,000 for each year, and their combined household adjusted overall income is $240,000. Caitlin and Anthony, who are married as well, as well have $240,000 in combined household regulated gross income and no children. But, Caitlin earns all of income; Anthony doesn’t work.
a. Employ the 2012 tax rates for married couples filing jointly1 to evaluate how much income tax each couple owes. Suppose that both take the standard deduction and personal exemption.
b. Does either couple pay “marriage tax?” Does either couple accept “marriage benefit?”
(Hint: To answer this problem, you will require looking up 2012 tax rates for single individuals and computing combined tax liability.)