Code for Marriage Penalties and Bonuses by Race and Ethnicity: An Application of Race and Ethnicity Imputation

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Emily Lin, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Rachel Costello, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Portia DeFilippes, U.S. Department of the Treasury ; Robin Fisher, U.S. Department of the Treasury ; Ben Klemens, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
CPS_20_SAS.txt	text/plain	11.7 KB	02/12/2024 09:24:AM
CPS_20_merge.txt	text/plain	3.1 KB	04/26/2024 12:32:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	117.6 KB	04/26/2024 12:36:PM

Project Citation:

Lin, Emily, Costello, Rachel, DeFilippes, Portia, Fisher, Robin, and Klemens, Ben. Code for Marriage Penalties and Bonuses by Race and Ethnicity: An Application of Race and Ethnicity Imputation. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2024. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-05-03. https://doi.org/10.3886/E201462V1

Project Description

Summary: We use the race and Hispanic origin information imputed to the Treasury’s tax model to examine group differences in the marriage penalty and bonus. The microsimulation results show that, for married couples in higher income categories, the marriage penalty rate is higher, and the marriage bonus rate is lower, for Black and Hispanic couples than for White couples. In contrast, White couples in several lower income categories face a higher penalty rate and a lower bonus rate. These Black-White differences in marriage penalty rates are consistent with the patterns of spousal income splits in the underlying data. Unlike survey data, the tax model does not suggest a higher prevalence of two equal-earning spouses among Black families throughout the entire range of the income distribution. Because of the different conclusions that would be drawn about group differences in the marriage penalty and bonus outcomes, further investigation regarding the data differences should be pursued.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: marriage penalty; individual income tax; race and Hispanic origin

JEL Classification:
      H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
      J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
      J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

Data Type(s): program source code

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Published Versions

V1 [2024-05-03]

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