money.cnn.com — As a CPA, I see the AMT hit more and more taxpayers every year. It is projected to hit half of all taxpayers including almost all middle class taxpayers in the next few years. This is one piece of legislation that definitely needs to be passed.
Jan 5, 2007 View in Crawl 4
hubbirdJan 6, 2007
@ dugdig:Problem there is that you're effectively legislating lifestyle choices, and not simplifying the tax system at all. Taxing income, including corporate income, is the only way to ensure that everybody chips in their fair share.@ adminsr:Pardon me? The Laffer curve is an appropriately named joke.This libertarian logic kills me: "everybody would be super pissed and anti-government if they really understood how much they're paying in taxes." It's rubbish. There are, believe it or not, real citizens left in this country who believe in a government of, by and for the people and who are willing to support that. Now, I'll be the first to agree that there are huge cuts we could make to our spending -- starting with SDI and other cold-war relics in the defense budget -- and that the tax system could be simplified. But taxing the rich less and the poor more is ridiculously unfair, not to mention bad fiscal policy.
jhw539Jan 6, 2007
As with everybody who has a Porsche in the garage (OK, an '89 944, but still), I'd love to see the AMT go. However, do people actually realize what that means? The only reason all the deficit predictions used to protect the current low level of taxation work at all (balanced budget by 2012, snicker) is because they assume that the AMT implements a very major stealth tax increase. And cutting social programs won't cover canceling the AMT - the interest on the debt, social security, medicare and military expenditures alone require the tax increase the AMT implements. Getting rid of the AMT needs to be directly linked to raising taxes elsewhere (soak the rich, aka depress job creation) or else we're screwed (halving our military, social security and/or medicare). That's why the Republican's refused to deal with the AMT when they were in power. There's no such thing as a free lunch folks - if you really hate taxes and prefer a social safety net of 'starve on the street corner,' it's muy simple to sneak into Mexico...
xophermvJan 6, 2007
Yes, the AMT is a brilliant idea that needs to be adjusted, not eliminated. It's far too easy for the rich to hire armies of accountants, financial advisers, lawyers, and other tax specialists to make sure they get every tax deduction and every tax shelter. Without the AMT, people like Paris Hilton could manipulate their finances in such a way as to pay less taxes than the average American.The AMT is ultimately about fairness. It ensures that those who benefit the most from their high income also pay the most. We could raise the limit to a million dollars and peg it to inflation and it would still be a good idea. A lower limit than that would still be fair and still bring in a good amount of money.
libberkeyJan 6, 2007
For secrets to living a tax-free life and regaining your personal sovereignity, visit www.taxfreeusa.org
scoobysnackJan 6, 2007
@dggeekLooking at the examples given - ubernerd and ubercool - are we really to believe that this was a valid English prefix before "it was adopted for use by the netizens and gamers"? Slang words get added to the dictionary, but that doesn't necessarily mean that journalists should use them in their work if they want to be taken seriously. Personally, I think it's fine for CNN to use slang terms, but then again I find it hard to take CNN (or any of the other "newsertainment" channels) seriously these days.
timstevensJan 7, 2007
The AMT is a GREAT TAX!! Why? Simple, it hits the liberal socialist states the most. Consider that the liberals and socialists who love high taxes get hit more heavily by the AMT than those who hate high taxes. Live in liberal California, Massachusetts, or New York? Sorry, you can't deduct those high state and property taxes and so you will pay more in the AMT than the regular Federal income tax.Ha ha ha hahahah
libberkeyJan 8, 2007
Tax free living. Cracking the Code. Available at amazondotcom.
lotteryfundJul 29, 2008
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caivpFeb 12, 2009
it was put into reality as a way to ensure that certain very high income earners were not simply using flexible tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Unfortunately, the AMT is not indexed annually for inflation, which has had the unfortunate side effect of forcing middle class and lower class earners to be subject to AMT regulations.<a class="user" href="http://www.caivp.org/article/issues/2009/2/11/amt-talk-it-sure-stimulating">http://www.caivp.org/article/issues/2009/2/11/amt- ...</a>
caivpFeb 12, 2009
AMT was put into reality as a way to ensure that certain very high income earners were not simply using flexible tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Unfortunately, the AMT is not indexed annually for inflation, which has had the unfortunate side effect of forcing middle class and lower class earners to be subject to AMT regulations.<a class="user" href="http://www.caivp.org/article/issues/2009/2/11/amt-talk-it-sure-stimulating">http://www.caivp.org/article/issues/2009/2/11/amt- ...</a>