How does the marital deduction benefit taxpayers?

Answer by  Chaneygirl (1755)

This means property transfering at death from one spouse to the other is exempt from estate taxes. When the property passes from this spouse to heirs there may be tax.

Answer by  Att4372 (1704)

You can leave your spouse all your property without paying any Federal estate tax. Upon death of the spouse, taxes are then paid by the spouse's estate. Also, if you both die, you get a double estate deduction - $7 million instead of just $3. 5 million. State laws differ.

Answer by  flamiss22 (5081)

It benefits taxpayers because both salaries are combined and there is a threshold that may be more beneficial than if the two people file seperately. In this instance there is two different taxes and they may not qualify for other benefits.

Answer by  tamarawilhite (17883)

The marital deduction eliminates inheritance tax if one spouse dies; the other gets the property without inheritance tax. For income taxes, the married couple essentially gets a higher per person living deduction.

Answer by  Carol37 (569)

The marital deduction doesn't really benefit taxpayers in general. It does benefit those who decide to get married. It is just something congress decided to do to social engineer us into marriage. Apparently they think marriage is good so we are bribed to go into it.