I read an article today in the New York Times, which discussed the growing percentage of Americans choosing to be unmarried. In the article, there was a quote, an analysis done by Lisa Arnold and Christina Campbell, which stated that “over a lifetime, unmarried people can pay upward of $1 million more than their married counterparts for health care, taxes and more”.

In the personal tax world, the Married Filing Jointly, or MFJ as often abbreviated, has the most favorable tax bracket among all other filing types, single, head of household, or married filing separately, etc.

It seems to me our society and government value a successful marriage. They want to encourage it by allowing married people to pay fewer taxes.

This also reminds me of a proverb: if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

Having been married for over 20 years, sometimes I still think that it’s so much simpler, easier, and faster just doing some of the things myself in my marriage. It requires much more communication, clarification, and comprise to make decisions and do things as a couple. To be honest, there were definitely moments that I felt exhausted tending my marriage.

So when I read this article, I felt encouraged to go farther together on this journey with my husband (of course tax is not the only reason). But it feels good knowing that I’ve been compensated by the government by paying fewer taxes for my hard work sustaining a marriage.

2022, let’s go!