Tax Professionals Speak Out Against Marriage Penalty;Most Feel It Discriminates Against Married...

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 1998--

Two Income Couples Who Marry Before The End of 1998 Will,

Most Likely, Pay Extra Taxes

Provisions in the tax code that are commonly referred to as the "marriage penalty" discriminate against married couples and should be eliminated,

According to the more than 500 tax professionals who answered the Flashpoll, 91 percent believe that the marriage penalty should be eliminated. Ninety percent of those respondents believe that it discriminates against married taxpayers.

The 'marriage penalty' stems from changes to the tax code made in the late sixties, when two-income families were not the norm, as they are today. The result of these changes is that dual-income married couples, with each earning roughly the same income, will pay more taxes than if they were two single taxpayers earning the same income.

A recent study by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 42% of American couples now pay some $29-billion annually in extra taxes because of this provision.

"This is a particularly timely issue because if a dual-income couple is married for even one day in 1998, the marriage penalty will apply to their tax returns for the entire year," says Allen Harris, senior vice president, Corporate Market, RIA Group. "Consider this example. A couple, where each earns approximately $35,000 per year, could save about $1,500 if they wait until Jan. 1 to tie the knot. That could pay for at least part of a honeymoon trip."

The RIA Group Flashpoll also found that 90 percent of respondents thought the marriage penalty represents an unfair cost to families, while three quarters of respondents said the marriage penalty is outdated and reflects demographics from the sixties when the provisions were originally adopted.

In addition, 71 percent referred to the provisions as "quirky," which undermines the integrity of the Internal Revenue Code.

This Flashpoll was the third in a series of online surveys created by RIA Group, a leading provider of technology and information for tax and financial professionals. It was designed as a forum for tax professionals to voice their thoughts on key issues facing the industry. It is still accessible online on the Checkpoint (www.checkpoint.riag.com) and RIATax (www.riatax.com) Web sites.

Full results for this Flashpoll as well as our past Flashpolls are available at HYPERLINK http://www.flashresults.riag.com www.flashresults.riag.com.

RIA Group, based in New York City, is part of the Thomson Corp. It includes Research Institute of America (RIA); Computer Language Research Inc. (CLR); Warren, Gorham & Lamont (WG&L); Practitioners Publishing Company (PPC); SCS/Compute; Creative Solutions Inc. (CSI); Electronic Selection Systems (ESS); and Multimedia Learning Inc. (MLI).

With annual revenues approaching US $6-billion, The Thomson Corp. (TTC) is one of the world's leading information and publishing companies. TTC's common shares are traded on the Toronto, Montreal and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit TTC's Internet address at www.thomcorp.com.