The Trump administration has proposed to get rid of one of the tax filing statuses that gives single parents a deduction in the tax code. There are currently two types of filing in the tax code: married and single. Single parents are currently able to file under the married section that saves them money when filing taxes. The new proposal would create a third category for single parents that would result in them paying more for on their yearly taxes. This is a further step in the wrong direction. Singles and single parents should not be taxed more than their married counterparts.
2016 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 at a campaign rally said that under Donald Trump’s tax plan “51 percent of singles would see their taxes go up.” Now that Donald Trump is President he is able to affect policy and make the Republican Party fall in line with what he wants it to become, which it is doing with ease. One of his policies, while cutting taxes for the majority of the middle class, would raise taxes in three different ways on singles. The first way is that Trump’s tax plan rates affects singles who are in the 33% tax bracket, or who make up to $127,500. The second way is that Trump would eliminate personal exemptions while raising standard deductions on singles. By raising the standard deduction, singles can expect a minimum increase of $8,750 from what they pay in taxes now which is more than those who are married. A third element of Trump’s tax plan is that it would eliminate single parents’ head of household status. Single parents’ will suffer by no longer being considered a head of household under Trump’s tax plan. In short, singles and single parents will pay more and see increased taxes under now President Trump’s tax plan.
Single parents are becoming more normal as society has seen a spike in divorces. Singles can now become a single parent by choice through adoption or in vitro fertilization. Singles also outnumber the married population in America. This tax policy defies the new normal of people remaining single longer, delaying marriage, or deciding to never get married. It is time for Washington to recognize the plight of singles and single parents and phase out head of household status. This would be a step to make singles, single parents, and those who are married more equal with tax policy. The next, and larger, step would be to eradicate the more than 1,000 laws that favor and benefit those who are married. None of these steps will come soon to Washington since both parties are entrenched in political interests. Those who are unmarried, single, and single parents should push their representatives to expunge the laws that benefit those who are married. This would be the fairest tax policy option to make singles and married equal during tax season.
Singles already pay more taxes with the current tax code compared to those who are married. In addition, those who are married receive over a 1,000 tax benefits and deductions merely because they are married. The tax code must be simplified and the deductions and benefits for those who are married abolished. It is time for the government, on all levels, to acknowledge the rise of singles and lower their tax rates.
