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H.R. 1244 (116th): Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2019

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About the bill

Should the gendered language be removed or remain?

Context

Same-sex marriage has been legal nationwide since 2015, with the Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. Same-sex couples can file their taxes jointly.

But the actual language of the tax code still refers exclusively to “husbands” and “wives.” While it’s unclear that this has actually caused any problems for same-sex couples’ taxes in practice since 2015, the wording no longer reflects the current legal reality. And some worry that the gendered language could potentially be used to deny tax benefits to same-sex couples.

What the legislation does

The Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act would amend the wording of more than 100 sentences in the existing tax code to be gender-neutral. Words such as “husband” and “wife” would be …

Sponsor and status

Photo of sponsor Andy Levin

Andy Levin

Sponsor. Representative for Michigan's 9th congressional district. Democrat.

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Last Updated: Feb 14, 2019
Length: 23 pages
Introduced
Feb 14, 2019
116th Congress (2019–2021)
Status
Died in a previous Congress

This bill was introduced on February 14, 2019, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.

Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).

Cosponsors

87 Cosponsors (87 Democrats)

Source
Congress.gov

History

Feb 14, 2019
 
Introduced

Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber.

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Jun 11, 2021
 
Reintroduced Bill — Introduced

This activity took place on a related bill, H.R. 3833 (117th).

H.R. 1244 (116th) was a bill in the United States Congress.

A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.

Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 1244. This is the one from the 116th Congress.

This bill was introduced in the 116th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.

How to cite this information.

We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:

“H.R. 1244 — 116th Congress: Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2019.” www.GovTrack.us. 2019. March 20, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr1244>

Where is this information from?

GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.