reform the tax code to eliminate the marriage penalty, which disproportionately hurt dual-income families.

The current tax code unfairly penalizes dual-income families. Consider two hypothetical families A and B, where family A has two spouses each making $100k in taxable income and family B has one spouse making $200k and the other a stay-at-home-parent. If neither family had legally gotten married and filed their taxes as individuals, the federal tax liability in 2015 for family A would be $42,142 and family B would be $49,606. If instead the couples had legally gotten married, the federal tax liability in 2015 for both families would be $43,051. This results in a tax penalty of $909 for family A and a tax benefit of $6,554 for family B. This quirk in the tax code discourages dual-career couples from getting or remaining married and reinforces breadwinner-homemaker stereotypes from the 50's.