The alternate minimum tax began as one of those typical pieces of Democratic grandstanding, a new tax to nail that handfull of millionaires who didn’t owe any income tax because of the sources of income weren’t taxable, because they had huge deductions, or some combination of perfectly legal tax circumstances that left them having no liability to the feds. Always eager to play the envy card, Dems hustled through the AMT, which was said to ensure that the rich paid their “fair share” even when they didn’t owe anything to Uncle Sam.
Now that the AMT is becoming a political monster that attacks non-rich people like Jeff Taylor (correct me if that assumption is wrong), and the Democrats have new sources of envy to rely on (Enron! Tyco! High executive pay!), why not repeal the AMT? I think that would be a good campaign issue for Richard Burr and candidates for House seats.
Anybody listening?
