In the US they have the concept of filing jointly. If you have one partner earning a lot more than the other then you can get tax bracket advantages of both when you pool your incomes together.

Interesting. I knew some countries in Europe had joint filing. I was unaware that the US did.

Does anyone know what the requirements are for the non-working individual to be considered for joint filing?

Say if you're on a working visa, but your spouse is not, presumably you don't get the tax benefits?

I believe you'd still be able to file jointly if you're on a working visa and your spouse is not working, even if they don't reside in the US. The only caveat is that their worldwide income would be subject to US taxation if they have income from abroad.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/claiming-a-non-c...

"In general, resident aliens are taxed just like U.S. citizens. You would list a resident-alien spouse on your return and provide his or her Social Security number (SSN). If your spouse is not eligible for a Social Security number, he or she will need to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS.

If your spouse is a nonresident alien, you can treat your spouse as a resident alien for tax purposes. If you choose this option, you can file a joint tax return with your spouse and have an increased standard deduction. You increase your standard deduction, but all your spouse's worldwide income will be taxed by the United States."

Reference on "Standard Deduction": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deduction

Unless you have kids, which then opens up another world of benefits.

The married, childless middle class really does get a bit screwed when it comes to taxes.

If we're still talking about Australia, there is no Family Tax Benefit for a single income provider earning above $104,281. It tapers off as you approach that.

As a general rule the Australian Government make it very difficult for families to have a stay-at-home carer. It's substantially more viable (monetarily speaking) for most families to send their kids to daycare, which is Government supported, and both work.

Same in NZ, it'd be nice if income splitting were allowed but no-one seems interested in it.

Instead we offer rather large tax rebates to people with children instead.