Ask Congress to remove the requirement of married folks paying back a student loan in the IRB program that requires them to complete tax returns as married filing seperate.

I should not have to require someone elses income to pay my obligation. Another person's income should not be counted into my income to calculate my monthly payment.

We are asking for nothing more than Congress already gave married people that both have student loans - the recent change stopped requiring them to pool their income which stopped the double count of their income. 

To make it simple, the we are asking that Congress stop requiring another person's income toward the calculation of any payback other than that of the student or of the people that signed the original loan papers.

Since Congress changed the laws so that married people both with student loans can request IBR and only have their income counted, then we know it is possible to only count the person with the loan and not the spouses income in coming up with the monthly payment.

The Income Based known as IBR Plan student loan payback was originally passed but had a few unintended consequences such as taxing the forgiveness of any balance written off. Another was that married couples with student loans had to "double count" in effect count their income twice and that resulted in a much higher combined payment. Until the correction the only way to prevent this "double count" from happening prior to July 1, 2010, was to file your taxes seperately. But thanks to Congress, both of these unintended consequences and many others as seen in this link have been corrected in Congress. (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-25190.pdf)

BUT, We believe you left one out.

Our plan is to present Congress with 500 signed petitioners that agree one unintended consequence was left out.

The unintended consequence left out is the following: it has to do with the marriage penalty or the "double count" of income in doing the calculations. Can 500 people see it as unfair and it not be a problem?

To avoid "double count" spouses still are required to file seperate tax returns to benefit from the IBR Plan. Currently there still is in effect the "double count" and here is how it is working.

I have a student loan and my spouse does not. But to calculate the IBR payment, the current rules state that we must file seperate tax returns to avoid having both our income counted in making the payment amount calculation. In this case the  spouse does not have a student loan to count, so therefore why count the second spouse's income? My payback should include only my income and I should not have to file a seperate tax return to make this work.

We are being penalized for not having two student loans. If my spouse had a student loan then her income would not be counted in calculating my monthly payment, and since she does not have a student loan, what does that matter, a spouse's income should not be calculated in either case. My loan should only use my income to calculate my payment.

We believe this is still a marriage penalty that has not been fully addresses as supported by the figures below.

The current tax code of Married filing individually precludes other tax benefits such as the life long credit, and the student loan tax deduction. We believe in our government to do the right thing and we believe they will take the steps to correct the issue once it is brought to their attention... Getting their attention is the hard part and that is where you come in. Together if we speak with one voice and ask Congress to make these changes together we take the chance of being heard. Please join with us for a change in the law to provide for a way other than by having married tax filers file as individuals, there must be a way to pull apart a joint tax return and not use the other spouse income to create the monthly payment, it is proven it can happen because they already changed the married using both spouses income in the earlier example, and so we believe there is a way possible to make this change too.

Example of Marital Issue:

IBR – Borrower with $35,000 Gross Income, $100,000 debt, Spouse with $60,000 Gross Income and No Qualifying Debt

Couple’s AGI , Federal Tax, Loan Repayment, Income after tax and loan payment

Cohabitating single parents

$92,500 (after interest deduction)

$12,625

$2,568

$79,987

Married, filing jointly

$92,500 (after interest deduction)

$11,981

$10,752

$72,267 (marriage penalty = $7,720)

Married, filing separately (CCRAA as amended)

$92,500 (no interest deduction)

$13,000

$2,952

$79,048 (marriage penalty = $939)

Source:  http://www.law.siu.edu/admission/loan_25%20year.asp

Thanks