Bye-Bye AMT?

I had never really thought much about the Alternative Minimum Tax before, but now Congress is considering repealing it before it hits all Americans. This may be one tax change that both sides can agree on.

The AMT imposes a higher bill on taxpayers than the regular tax code. The tax, originally intended for the wealthy, now threatens to catch tens of millions of middle-class taxpayers unless lawmakers increase the AMT adjusted gross income exemption levels, since the original levels were never adjusted for inflation....But if no other changes are made, the exemption levels for tax year 2007 will drop to $35,750 for single filers and $45,000 for married filers, and the personal credits will be disallowed.
As a result, the number of taxpayers nabbed by AMT will jump from 3.5 million in 2006 to 23 million for tax year 2007 and to 39 million by 2017, according to the Tax Policy Center. That assumes President Bush's tax cuts implemented since 2001 expire as scheduled. If they don't, then 53 million taxpayers - or about half of all taxpayers - will pay the AMT by 2017.

More proof that our tax code is broken and needs to be fixed. Flat tax anyone?