According to the Tax Foundation, a married couple's income may be subject to a penalty of up to 12% if they have children and up to 4% if they don’t. I don't know about you, but I never decided how I felt about a woman based on what a government-issued document told me about her. So why do you?

Taxation is theft, and the only role the gov't could ever play in your marriage is to leech off your hard-earned income. If your wife cheats, the gov't doesn't care. If you cheat, the gov't doesn't care. If you or your wife fall ill, the gov't doesn't care. The gov't contributes NOTHING to anyone's marriage. The gov't is only ever there to leech off you and your family through higher tax rates. There isn't one damn scenario anyone can think of where they can say "Thank goodness I told the government about the significant other in my life!"

"But what about inheritance," you ask. Anything of value you have should be kept in a Living Trust so as to avoid probate (i.e. taxation) and a simple Will can decide who gets access. "What about health insurance?" Thanks to the QWERTY "community", you can add any other person to your plan. "What about important decisions if I'm ill?" You can assign Power of Attorney to anyone under whatever circumstances you declare. "What about child tax credits?" What about them? They're still your kids, so you can still claim that regardless of your "marriage status."

Almost any "benefit" of contracting with Uncle Sam can be obtained through legal instruments and a lawyer. Sometimes you can skip the lawyer and use services like LegalZoom. So, WHY would anyone get the gov't involved in their bedroom?

I hope this gets you all thinking. Stop feeding the trolls in D.C. with 12% more of your income "just because". The gov't can't claim even ONE benefit they provide to married couples to justify the extra money they steal from them!

By all means, go before God and declare your love. But for the sake of all that's good and honest, don't tell Uncle Sam or his jackbooted cronies a damn thing!