Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz - Lame AMT Relief It Is
Congress finally made up its mind about the AMT - on the last day of business for 2007.
The House voted 352-64 to “patch” the AMT. President Bush is expected to sign the bill, which the Senate has already approved.
How long has it been? In June, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that this year 81% of taxpayers with annual incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 and 49% of taxpayers with incomes between $75,000 and $100,000 would have been subject to higher taxes under the AMT. The original intention of the AMT, however, was never to tax those folks but to prevent high income taxpayers from taking advantage of tax preference items like state and local income tax deductions.
In exchange for the AMT, the Democrats got… nothing. That’s right, nothing. It’s a simple patch. There is no offsetting tax revenue, a measure that Republicans cheered and Democrats decried.
Technorati Tags:
AMT, Congress, tax, tax policy
