Eliminate the North Dakota Marriage Penalty Tax
The Tax Foundation’s 2023 State Business Tax Climate Index ranks North Dakota 17th in the United States overall. While it scores well on the Corporate Tax (ranked 9th), Unemployment Insurance Tax (7th), and Property Tax (9th) components, its ranking on the Individual Income Tax — 27th — pulls that overall ranking down. One reason for that ranking is North Dakota’s marriage tax penalty.
Eliminating the marriage tax penalty would bump North Dakota up from 27th to 20th on the Tax Foundation’s Individual Income Tax rank and help the Overall ranking up from 17th to 15th. It is an obvious measure to stop penalizing marriage and create a more business-friendly tax climate.
State policy makers should:
- Eliminate the “marriage penalty” in the individual income tax
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