McConnell: ‘Fix this middle-class tax grab’
Washington, D.C. -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Charles Grassley, Senator Gordon Smith (R.-Ore.), and Senator Mike Crapo (R.-Idaho) held a press conference Wednesday urging immediate action to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
“If Congress does not take action to correct, or in my preference to repeal, AMT before the end of 2007, upwards of 20 million middle-income households will find themselves paying AMT,” said Sen. Smith.
Because the AMT was not indexed for inflation, it attacks more and more middle-income families every year.
“Since the AMT was never intended to reach to the extent that it reaches, and Congress never intended this tax to be collected from so many Americans, we should not subject this tax to the paygo rules,” said Sen. Crapo. “At the very least we need the AMT patch that’s been used in recent years to protect taxpayers,” said Sen. Grassley. “Even so, this falls short of what Democrats pledged to do to fix the AMT problem when they took over in January.”
The most recent patch expired last year, leaving millions of families vulnerable to AMT if another is not added. “If we don’t act soon, about 25.7 million families and individuals will be hit with a very unpleasant surprise next year to the tune of about $65 billion in taxes,” said McConnell.
“We have a very difficult situation building in our tax code right now,” warned Sen. Crapo. “We need immediate action, we need solid and decisive action.”
According to the Congressional Research Service, 168,000 Kentucky taxpayers will be subject to AMT if Congress fails to act soon.
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Washington, D.C. -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Charles Grassley, Senator Gordon Smith (R.-Ore.), and Senator Mike Crapo (R.-Idaho) held a press conference Wednesday urging immediate action to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
“If Congress does not take action to correct, or in my preference to repeal, AMT before the end of 2007, upwards of 20 million middle-income households will find themselves paying AMT,” said Sen. Smith.
Because the AMT was not indexed for inflation, it attacks more and more middle-income families every year.
“Since the AMT was never intended to reach to the extent that it reaches, and Congress never intended this tax to be collected from so many Americans, we should not subject this tax to the paygo rules,” said Sen. Crapo. “At the very least we need the AMT patch that’s been used in recent years to protect taxpayers,” said Sen. Grassley. “Even so, this falls short of what Democrats pledged to do to fix the AMT problem when they took over in January.”
The most recent patch expired last year, leaving millions of families vulnerable to AMT if another is not added. “If we don’t act soon, about 25.7 million families and individuals will be hit with a very unpleasant surprise next year to the tune of about $65 billion in taxes,” said McConnell.
“We have a very difficult situation building in our tax code right now,” warned Sen. Crapo. “We need immediate action, we need solid and decisive action.”
According to the Congressional Research Service, 168,000 Kentucky taxpayers will be subject to AMT if Congress fails to act soon.
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