Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., introduced on Thursday the “Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act” in Congress, which would scrub the tax code of gendered terms like “husband” and “wife” and instead replace them with neutral words like “spouse”.
“Today, as Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day, I introduced this bill to make simple, common sense changes to our tax code so that it accurately represents all people to whom it applies,” Levin said. “The Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act will make small changes that have a huge impact on the affirmation of the LGBTQ community.”
Co-leading on the House bill is Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., a member of the Ways and Means Committee, who said “tax filing is often difficult enough already without also making LGBTQ families feel prejudiced against,”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who will introduce the Senate version of the bill said “the tax code still reflects the discrimination of a bygone era. It’s past time for that to change.”
Former Rep. Sandy Levin, Andy’s father and predecessor, introduced similar legislation several times before his son took over his seat in 2019.
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Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, applauded the bill's introduction.
“This bill is an innovative step to scrub our tax code of anachronisms that sideline transgender taxpayers and ignore the progress our country has made in securing the right to marriage equality for all,” Keisling, said in a statement shared with NBC News. “Any law that tries to enforce strict and outmoded definitions of gender is bound to hurt every American of every gender.”
