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Hoekstra Votes for AMT Patch
Failing to Fix AMT would Impact 25 Million Taxpayers in 2007
Washington,
Dec 19, 2007 -
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, today voted for legislation that prevents the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) from impacting as many as 25 million taxpayers in 2007.
“Failing to index the AMT to inflation was a mistake that should be corrected,” Hoekstra said. “American taxpayers already send enough of their hard-earned paychecks to Washington.”
The AMT was created in 1969 to prevent 155 wealthy taxpayers with large tax deductions from avoiding all tax liability.
Many taxpayers, especially middle-income earners, are finding that the AMT applies to more of them because it was never indexed to inflation and because of reductions in the regular income tax. Because Congress has failed to fix the problem this year, millions of Americans are currently unsure of how much they will pay in taxes.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in October said that continued inaction on fixing the AMT for 2007 would cause months-long delays of up to $75 million in tax refunds for 50 million taxpayers (25 million that are subject to the AMT without a patch and 25 million more who use other deductions).
Hoekstra has alternatively co-sponsored the Taxpayer Choice Act that would repeal the AMT, maintain the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends and gives taxpayers the option of paying their income taxes on a drastically simplified tax system with lower rates and no special deductions.
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