It just occurred to me as well that this is another policy that hurts working families, as a one income of, say, $200,000 is taxed less than a two income household of $200,000 where the monies are relatively evenly split between spouses. The so called "marriage penalty" gets worse...
Well, if I make $200k, then my payroll tax is $117,000 * 12.4% = $14,508, which is a rate of 7.25%. My wife is a housewife who makes 0, so combined we pay 7.25%. If, on the other hand, I make $100,000 and my wife makes $100,000, then our payroll tax burden is the full 12.4%, or $24,800. Income tax kind of works the same way for married people. If you make a similar amount of money, then you pay a lot (actually, more than you would pay individually, if you can believe that; not sure what genius came up with that one). If one spouse makes significantly more than the other, then you potentially get a large break. It's a terribly unfair system, IMO. But everything looks unfair when you're the one getting fucked.
Ah okay I got you, actually now that you mention this marriage caveat I'm beginning to remember reading about this long before I understood any of it. Oh well. Yeah I think that's the "unfair" bit of things being unfair.It's a terribly unfair system, IMO. But everything looks unfair when you're the one getting fucked.