
Originally Posted by
Melonie
As much as one might wish that logic might actually play a part in future AMT repeal, the fact is that doing so would mean nearly a trillion dollars per year in lost tax revenue. Thus actually considering repeal of the AMT would involve either passing general income tax rate increases or raising other taxes like cap gains to replace that lost revenue, or (God Forbid) gov't actually cutting spending.
Given the political unpopularity of an across the board tax increase, and given the political unpopularity of cutting the #1 segment of gov't spending i.e. social programs, I'm betting that the AMT is going to remain in place and hit 'middle class' earners harder and harder with each passing year.
This is the reason that I strongly advocate that anybody earning more than $50,000 per year pony up for TurboTax or another tax program that does the duplicate AMT calculations. I am afraid that many full time dancers who are single with incomes in the $75k+ range and who live in 'high tax rate' states are going to get stung badly by the AMT this year.
Bookmarks