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Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of changes in the federal income tax structure on net income of wives in dual-earner households between 1980 and 1983. Utilizing the second-earner net income model (SENIM), simulation distributions of net income of married full-time women workers, representing six occupational categories, are calculated for alternative spouse income levels and for households of different sizes. The resulting net income distributions are analyzed by paired comparison t-tests to determine the effects of tax changes on dual-earner households during the first Reagan administration. The findings indicate that the tax changes benefit dual-earner households at all income levels, but that lower-income households receive the least benefit, so that the effects are inequitable.

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Tax Effects on the Net Income of Wives in Dual-Earner Households,1980–1983

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