AMT Increase for 2007

"dapperdobbs" wrote

Actually no. Any increase would be, at best, that amount times the AMT tax rate. 26% or 28%, so $2275 to $4900.

Reports peg the "average" tax increase by $2000, but you can't trust reporters.

This is the result of the cardboard patch "fixes" that last as long as it takes to get through the vote in Congress. In other words, last year's increased exemption amounts were a temporary patch, which expired for 2007. No patch has been forthcoming from Congress in the past 12 months - and for sure no final resolution to AMT either.

Currently Congress is arguing over how to fix AMT, the Senate has a patch without any tax offsets (budget cuts and/or tax increases elsewhere), the House wants to have tax offsets (increased tax elsewhere, what's a budget cut?). The Prez said he would veto any bill that carried any increased tax.

Stay tuned, as neither party can leave this one alone going into an election year......or can they......

We don't know yet what the final numbers for 2007 will be since Congress is still contemplating its navel. The numbers in the forms are the law before the anticipated "patch" that Congress has been doing annually.

To stay up to date on this search on "AMT" at

Hmmm.. and just what date will congress adjourn for the year?

ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

I heard one member on TV a few days ago say he HOPES they'll be out by Christmas.

Your probably see what I'm hinting here. Will this be another "do nothing" congress like we had back in the late forties?

ChEAr$, Harlan

To answer your question directly: The 107th Congress with Pres. Bush passed a bill that implemented a 4 year temporary fix (2001 to 2004). In 2005, the exemption reverted back to the level before the 2001 fix. In 2006, the

And congress has recessed for the weekend. This is a real mess and hardly anybody knows about it. (true it has been reported in the media, but the average Joe taxpayer is unaware). With the current law an additional 21 million taxpayers will pay AMT for 2007. Any change in legislation is going to delay IRS processing of ALL returns (e-file & paper) for about 7-10 weeks until the systems are changed and we may be delayed in filing until into Feb. I hope congress does nothing and let "it hit the fan" next year during an election year.

Thank you everyone for replies. Spot on :-) Most of my friends did not know of the increase. I had heard on media that "due to inflation more people will be hit by the AMT", so assumed maybe a 3% increase, offset by other inflation indexing.

The reversion to prior exemption brackets makes my AMT jump by over

And the problem is that the Dems in the House see this additional AMT tax from the additional 21 million taxpayers as "their" money. They insist that any AMT fix that reduces the amount of revenue that they shouldn't get in the first place, but will get if they DON'T patch the AMT (again), must be offset with either an ADDITIONAL tax increase elsewhere or a reduction in spending (not likely). They totally ignore the argument that there is no actual "loss" of revenue if they fix the AMT, because they should not be getting the increased revenue at all. It is all a game to push through a tax increase by holding 21 million taxpayers hostage.

While an increase in taxes can pass the House, it has no chance whatsoever in the Senate (or the veto pen) and they all know that, but those running the show in the House won't back down so there is gridlock.

Had you made a plain old criticism of the political class in general I'd have been right in the "go get 'em" line. Since you chose a partisan attack on the Democrats in the House, I'll offer a different view.

Actually, it's the Dems in the House who have pulled back the curtain and revealed the real Wizard. Do you think Congress just ignored AMT when passing the tax cuts since 2000? Right, and the tooth fairy is real. They used projected AMT to "pay" for them in budget projections, knowing full well that they'd then be able to scream about the poor middle class and get patches through year after year, tacking the shortfall onto the debt.

Regardless of what one thinks of the House proposal, at least it's more honest than what's been going on.

As for my preference, I long for the days when we had stingy Republicans, a vanishing breed, running Congress and a Democrat in the White House.

I wasn't making an attack on anyone, only stating the facts of what is going on at the present. In the past the players were different but the game was the same.

It is the elephant in the room that no one wanted to talk about or even acknowledge.

Like I said, it is a game, an attempt to get more money based on a false premise - that the poorly planed AMT which was not indexed to inflation is a "real" shortfall that must be made up for from other sources.

I am not sure I would call it honest no matter who is playing the game. Like all standoffs, this one is likely to end with a compromise - the Dems won't get the big increase they want, but they will get something, and we, the tax payers, pay the bill. The Repubs and Dems pat each other on the back and it's back to business as usual 'till next year.

I can't disagree with that .

And I think we are in agreement that the AMT is a cash cow that neither party has any real incentive to actually fix (for real - once and for all).

Well, not really. The previous poster (you?) put a distinct spin on those facts by characterizing the motivations.

In fact, the Republicans and the Democrats are equally cynical on this matter.

Everyone knew that the failure to index the AMT would create a huge steaming pile of poo, and it's just been getting more and more aromatic as time goes on. Instead of trying to deal with it, everyone has been trying to use it to political advantage -- which of course, means not doing anything to FIX the problem, so it can be used in campaigns, by blaming The Other Party.

And the AMT is really just an hors d'oeuvre compared to the real dead whales in the room: Social Security and (shudder) Medicare.