Do you pay more or less income tax being married? Or, being single? Hmmm…well, it depends. There are no easy answers in the tax world. To make a long story, short – the so-called marriage penalties or marriage bonuses “generally occur when certain tax brackets and/or tax deductions for married couples aren’t twice the same amount for single taxpayers.” These marriage penalties or bonuses occur in numerous sections of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).