Unattached and Taxed: Reforming the Singles Tax in America

Psychologists and economists have extensively examined and identified singleness as a social identity and its utility in a society catered towards familial demographics. This Article reaches beyond the idea that America’s views about singles not only influence how politicians write the laws but sheds some light as to why the laws are written at the expense of the single class and how experts and legislators can better include singles in the law. This Article takes a familiar look at taxation of the family and examines how American tax laws and legislative assumptions influence and support the traditional family unit and the decision to marry, rather than the individual. It proposes a novel tax remedy that resolves the tension between tax equity and efficiency. Its thesis argues that the tax code and several other family focused policies stand in dire need of reform to account for the demographic shift away from the traditional family unit and proposes that legislators can do so by crafting policies that are unique to singles and the issues that burden their demographic.