While the combined tax burden will almost be higher, it won't necessarily be "much" higher. In our case for the 2022 tax year, the combined federal tax due will be about $225 more when filing separately. However, because of a long-standing, erm, quirk - I'm being generous here! - in the way the Department of Education calculates income based repayments for certain student loans*, both of our monthly payments will be hundreds of dollars less when the pandemic loan repayment freeze finally ends this summer. No one wants to pay more taxes, but that's a pretty good ROI in my book.
* We're both on track for PSLF forgiveness. Your results may vary!
