JO-ANN MORIARTY
STAFF
25 September 2008
The Republican
English
Copyright (c) 2008. The Republican All Rights Reserved. Used by Factiva with Permission.
jo-ann.moriarty@newhouse.com

House acts to prevent tax

The tax would force 25 million families to pay higher taxes this year.

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved spending $62 billion Wednesday to prevent 25 million middle-class families into paying upwards of $2,500 in unexpected taxes next April because of the alternative minimum tax.

The measure passed by a vote of 393-30 about 7 Wednesday night. The measure now moves to the Senate.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal was tapped by the Democratic leadership to manage the bill on the House floor. The Springfield, Mass., Democrat, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the chairman of the Select Revenue subcommittee, notified the House leadership eight years ago that the alternative minimum tax - instituted more than 30 years ago to force 200 of the nation's wealthiest families into paying a minimum tax to the federal government, was reaching into the middle class.

Neal learned that millions of middle class families were being swept into paying the alternative minimum tax if those taxes were greater than taxes due through individual filings or joint filings.

Left alone, Neal said, the tax would force 25 million families to pay higher taxes this year. "That's right, this tax relief is for this year," Neal said. "The current patch (tax relief measure) expired at the end of last year and it is urgent that we pass this relief now."

"Of the 25 million families facing higher taxes, 84 percent of them earn less than $200,000. In my district alone, families paying AMT will rise from 8,000 to 69,000 if we do not enact this patch," Neal said.

"For the last decade, I have sought repeal or radical reform of the AMT because of the unfairness it wreaks on our progressive tax system," Neal said.

Like Neal, U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wanted the $62 billion to be offset in the budget by a specific revenue stream, but Senate leaders told the House that they did not see a revenue-neutral bill passing the Senate before the close of the legislative process.

"Despite bipartisan efforts and outreach to the other side on the issue of fiscal responsibility, we have been unable to find common ground," he said. "We have run up against the reality of the closing days of Congress and it simply must get done."