Booker proposes no federal income tax on first $75k for married couples

Senator Cory Booker is itching for a tax overhaul.

Booker is putting forward a new bill today that would increase the standard deduction to $75,000 for joint filers and $37,500 for single filers, essentially exempting the first $75,000 a married couple makes from federal income taxes. That’s more than double the current rates of $31,500 for joint filers and $15,750 for solo filers.

The two-term senator said his bill, the Keep Your Pay Act, would also increase the Child Tax Credit, add a “baby bonus” the year a new baby is born, and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to more fully cover workers under 24 and over 65. The plan, Booker said, would be paid for by “closing unfair tax loopholes used by the ultra-wealthy and big corporations and requiring them to pay their fair share.”

“The tax system – we all know this – is rigged,” Booker said in a social media post announcing the legislation. “It’s rigged against working people and full of things to help people with a lot of money, whether it’s corporations or billionaires, avoid paying taxes. It’s what happens because of the corruption down in Washington that lets the wealthiest and most powerful write our tax code. So let’s unrig it. Let’s make it simple and direct.”

Booker also unveiled a tax calculator to calculate families’ estimated savings under the bill. (Lower-income families would be estimated to save more money proportionally, though the actual savings would be higher for many higher-income families; for example, a married couple with two young kids making $25,000 a year would save an estimated $4,240, the same family making $75,000 a year would save an estimated $8,880, and the same family making $250,000 a year would save an estimated $13,784.)

Booker, who is up for re-election this year, has proposed major changes before to the ways American families pay taxes and receive benefits. In the lead-up to his 2020 campaign for president, Booker pushed for “baby bonds,” in which every child in the country would be given a $1,000 federally funded savings account that would continually grow as they got older; the idea later caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who is now trying to implement “Trump accounts” for 25 million children.

As long as Republicans remain in control of Washington, Booker’s Keep Your Pay proposals are unlikely to get off the ground. But if Democrats retake the Senate this year – a difficult but not impossible task – Booker could be a driving force in his party’s policy agenda; he’s currently the Senate Democratic conference’s fourth-ranking member, and he may have the opportunity to rise further after this year’s elections.

Inevitably, Booker’s sweeping policy proposals will also lead to talk of another presidential campaign in 2028. Asked about that possibility by NBC News, Booker said it’s something he hasn’t ruled out.

“I have not closed the door on ’28, but I’m really focused on now that the Democratic Party needs to not be defined by what it’s against, simply, but start talking about the big things it stands for,” he said.