Marriage is bliss, but maybe not at tax time in these 18 states

1 month ago 22

Medora Lee, USA TODAY

Fri, January 30, 2026 astatine 8:58 AM CST 4 min read

Marriage usually brings excitement and happiness to someone’s life, but successful definite states, it tin besides bring a taxation penalty.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the marriage punishment connected income taxation for each but those Americans successful the highest taxation bracket connected a national level by doubling the azygous filer magnitude for associated filers. But investing probe level BestBrokers recovered 18 states that inactive carried a “marriage penalty” successful 2025. Couples filing jointly successful those states look higher taxes than if they filed arsenic individuals due to the fact that the taxation income thresholds aren’t doubled from azygous filers.

Depending connected which authorities Americans unrecorded in, getting joined tin outgo couples upwards of $8,000 annually owed to the penalty, BestBrokers said. In states with matrimony penalties, households wherever some spouses gain akin incomes are the astir affected, according to The College Investor acquisition and wealth site.

Marriage penalties “illustrate however state-specific taxation structures, progressive brackets, and deductions harvester to make either a fiscal vantage oregon disadvantage for joined couples, adjacent astatine mean incomes,” wrote Paul Hoffman, exertion successful main astatine BestBrokers.

Arkansas
Delaware
District of Columbia (counted arsenic a authorities for the survey’s purpose)
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

To find the states wherever couples would wage the astir for being married, BestBrokers assumed a modular deduction of $15,750 for joined filing separately and $31,500 for filing jointly with some spouses earning $75,000 each. The quality indicates a marriage penalty if the mates pays much jointly than 2 individuals.

“Washington, DC, imposes the steepest matrimony penalty, costing a joined mates an other $8,173 annually compared to 2 idiosyncratic filers,” said Hoffman. “Delaware and West Virginia besides person notable penalties, mostly owed to the mode their progressive brackets and deductions interact astatine this income level.”

Below are the afloat results:

Washington, DC: $8,173
Delaware: $7,008
West Virginia: $5,724
New Mexico: $2,146
Rhode Island: $1,834
New Jersey: $1,575
Wisconsin: $1,469
Ohio: $1,364
Virginia: $1,318
South Carolina: $1,212
Minnesota: $1,191
Vermont: $1,046
Missouri: $857
Mississippi: $440
North Dakota: $312
Maryland: $253
Arkansas: $86
Nebraska: $1

New York is the lone authorities wherever joined couples decorativeness up of idiosyncratic filers connected income tax, BestBrokers said. Couples determination spot their taxation load reduced by $23 compared with 2 singles.