Thursday March 29 2:44 PM ET

House Approves Tax Cut for Married Couples

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a $400 billion 10-year tax cut for married couples to ease the so-called marriage penalty.

The House voted 282-144 for the bill that would ease the tax by raising the standard deduction for couples starting next year and phasing in an expansion of the 15 percent tax bracket for married couples who itemize their returns. It also would also phase in Bush's proposal to raise the $500 child tax credit to $1,000 by 2006.

Republican backers said it would eliminate the marriage penalty for 25 million couples. Often two-income couples pay more in taxes than they would if they were single.

The measure was a second installment on President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut package. The House earlier this month approved a $958 billion bill that would cut income tax rates across-the-board, including lowering the top 39.6 percent rate to 33 percent.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001