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The legislation was introduced in November by Susie Pinel, the island’s treasury minister, who vowed to provide similar rights and responsibilities to all residents in their tax affairs.

“It will remove the archaic presumption in the current law that a wife’s income is deemed to belong to her husband,” Ms. Pinel said in a statement released before the vote.

Ms. Pinel acknowledged that an additional burden for lower-income couples was not acceptable and said that the independent tax system was not yet ready.

Pinel was last seen Dec. 17 and was reported missing early Saturday.

Pinel’s father told investigators that his daughter called him last week to say she was in Texas for a funeral.