THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290013
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
In your incessant efforts to discredit President Clinton, you have abandoned responsibility to your readers by publishing unsubstantiated claims against the Clinton administration.
We refer to your editorial ``Anti-family tax code'' (July 18) which said the tax code is now more anti-family than ever.
In an example, you said that two single people, each earning $50,000, fall into the 28 percent income-tax bracket and pay $28,000 in combined income taxes. If they marry, you said, their combined income of $100,000 lands them in the 31 percent tax bracket and their federal tax bill rises to $31,000.
This is incorrect. Using the 1993 tax laws (the first year of the ``anti-family'' Clinton tax laws) a single person earning $50,000 would have a minimum $2,350 personal exemption and a $3,700 standard deduction. This leaves a maximum taxable income of $43,950, and a tax of $9,440. For two people, this would yield a combined tax of $18,880, not the $28,000 you reported.
A married couple with a $100,000 income would have a minimum of $4,700 for two personal exemptions, and a $6,200 standard deduction. This leaves a maximum taxable income of $89,100 and a tax of $20,158. This means that the marriage tax is $1,278, not the $3,000 you claimed in your editorial.
Furthermore, if you look at the tax code for 1992 (the last year of the 12-year ``pro-family'' Republican administrations) you find that the marriage tax was higher. A single person in 1992 earning $50,000 could claim a $2,300 personal exemption and a $3,600 standard deduction. This resulted in a $44,100 taxable income and a tax of $9,567 or $19,134 for two people of this income.
For a family earning $100,000, the minimum deductions were $4,600 for two personal exemptions and $6,000 standard deduction, leaving a taxable income of $89,400 and a tax of $20,473. Thus the marriage penalty was $1,339; $61 higher than in 1993.
You should be more responsible in reporting the facts in your editorials. It is time to lay off President Clinton and provide your readers with the truth, not conservative propaganda.
THOMAS ST. ANDRE
BARRY CULPEPPER
Norfolk, July 20, 1994 by CNB