Congress Passes AMT Tax Repeal; Ball Is Now InSenate's, Bush's Corner
BY JOHN TOSCANO

After three unsuccessful attempts to enact a middle class tax relief bill, House Democrats, with Republican support, passed a bill last week which provides a respite from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and also provides tax benefits for working families.

The $50 billion tax cut, according to Congressmember Joseph Crowley, must now be acted upon by the Senate.

The legislation, Crowley said, will benefit the people who work hard and play by the rules, but even if the Senate passes the bill if President George W. Bush does not sign it, households will see their taxes rise on average $3,000 this year.

Crowley (D- Queens/The Bronx), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, which wrote the bill, stated: "After six years of Republican control in Washington, the Congress finally put the need of middle-class families at the heart of our nation's tax policies."

He stated, that if the bill becomes law, it would spare 25 million American families- almost 30,000 of whom are his constituents in Queens and The Bronx- from being on the receiving end of the biggest tax hike in American history.

Crowley explained that the AMT was originally drafted in 1969 to ensure that the wealthiest Americans paid at least some income taxes. Specifically, it prevents a taxpayer from eliminating all federal tax liabilities by forcing the taxpayer to lose a number of deductions. While it originally targeted the wealthy, it is now hitting middle-income earners due to several factors, including failure to index it to inflation, Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax schemes and a lack of action by past Republican-led Congresses.

The lawmaker said that now, after six years of inaction on the AMT and without the enactment into law of the tax cutting bill just passed, in 2007 families earning more than $45,000 for joint returns and unmarried taxpayers earning more than $35,750 will lose their ability to claim tax deductions for personal exemptions, state and local tax deductions and dependent tax deductions (children).

The first three attempts by the Democratic majority to pass the AMT relief measure failed because not a single Republican in the House would vote for it, Crowley said.

In addition, the White House has been unwilling to work for passage of "what Crowley called "this massive tax increase", in a way that does not add to deficits or further balloon the nation's growing debt, which is now over $9 trillion- more than $30,000 for every American.

Crowley stated, "It is disheartening that the Republicans in Congress have worked tirelessly to block tax relief for working people three times this year. It is further upsetting that the only way that the Bush Administration will enact this tax relief is if we pay for it by using the nation's credit card- a bill that will have to be paid for by our children.

"Despite these obstacles, the Democratic majority in Congress will block middle-class Americans from having to pay the AMT tax this year."