Republican says overtaxed U.S. families need relief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum repeated on Saturday his party's call for tax relief for American families, saying nearly 40 percent of their income goes to taxes at a time of record surpluses.

"In fact, the average American family is paying more in taxes than on food, clothing, housing and transportation combined," the lawmaker from Pennsylvania said in the weekly Republican radio address to the nation.

"This is unacceptable and simply unfair."

He criticized President Clinton for vetoing a Republican bill to end the so-called marriage penalty on taxes for two-income couples, and said the White House promises to do the same to a measure that would repeal the federal estate tax.

"The federal government takes an average of $115 a month out of the paychecks of working men and women that it would not take if those men and women chose to remain single," said Santorum.

Under the U.S. tax code, roughly half of the 45 million couples filing tax returns -- usually those with two similar incomes -- pay more in taxes than they would if they were single. But many couples, mostly those with only one income, pay lower taxes than they would as single taxpayers.

Clinton has said the marriage bill was the first of $2 trillion in tax cuts proposed by Republicans that would threaten the nation's economy and make it impossible to overhaul programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Santorum urged Americans to contact their House and Senate lawmakers and "tell them that you want to keep more of what you have worked so hard to earn. Ask them to override these vetoes."

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