Dear ALl, Does the marriage tax still exist?  I have heard that if 2 people live together unmaarried, & file federal taxes separately, they together pay less than a nmaarried couple filing jointly.  Is this sstilll true?  Bummer & moral discourager  if it is still true.  Yours in Him, Deb

 It depends on their incomes, but yes, for most people this is still true. Married people are also penalized in a few other ways, such as for financial aid for college. DH and I are not, in fact, legally married (though we had our own ceremoy, etc...we just didn't file the government paperwork) because we can't afford his tuition out of pocket, and he'd lose all his financial aid if we were married. The same is also often true for things like food stamps, HUD, etc.

It's sad. While true that two people can often live together on less income than they can live apart, it's also true that living together doesn't reduce many of the  expenses people have seperately.

 It is sad. We had a friends in their 70'2.He had a stroke, needed to go to a nursing faciltiy. She had to divorce him to get the bills paid. It was so awful for her. She felt guilty but had no real choice. He never knew what had been done. Babs

That is really sad Babs.   must have been so hard for her. 

Can't get around it here.  Govt bought a law in a years ago that if you live together for a year, you are common law.   I think it was because of all the people having kids and not being married.  to protect the kids I think. 

Dear Babs, That tragedy happens every day.  Many people cannot afford to live if they "spend down" all their assets/wealth to qualify for Medicaid (which pays for nursing hoome care), so htey end up having to divorce.  Such a shame!  Love in Him, Deb

Dear Martha MFI, Yet another way that Canada is more sensible than the USA, IMHO.  Love in Hiim, Deb

In some ways Deb :)   personally since we didn't have kids before marriage and that was one reason we got married because we wanted kids (married a year before getting pregnant fyi)  I didn't like the govt saying I was married common law when to me I wasn't married period in my eyes.  We lived together for a year and half before marrying.  But I do understand their reasoning. 

 Um...what does Canada do about things like roomies in University who live together for more than a year, etc?

Roommates don't count.  but it is one of those things...if you are living commonlaw and don't said it then maybe you don't get caught but if you get audited or someone tells on you then big trouble.   you still file separately.  doesn't really make a difference for reg folks.

 It is more for people with kids due to child tax benefits.  of course you get more money from the govt if they think it is only based on one income.  or if you are on welfare.  there is some other taxes you get back for lower income but it has to be very low income.

we know several couples that happened to ...I think it's horrible .

 Ah, that makes more sense, I suppose.  It sounds like, unless it's for government benefits for kids, it's not really applicable.   I've lived with both sexes of roommate for over a year, and would hate to have had it called a common law marriage! Heck, I lived with a boyfriend for over a year when I was younger, but we didn't end up getting married (thank goodness, that would have been awful given what I found out while we lived together!), and I can't imagine having to have gone through it as a "divorce," when the idea is that we weren't ready to get married in the first place! (Obviously, we didn't have children and weren't getting government benefits of any kind).