Alternative Minimum Tax

[Mani]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: Insomniator

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: Insomniator
And if Obama wins W's cuts will be over in 2010. Tax increase for everyone! hoorrayyy

Um, no. Obama has stated repeatedly that he'd continue the cuts for all except the top 5% of taxpayers. That goes for capital gains taxes, too.

Please lie about something else.

We'll see what really happens. It's amusing to me how many people (that make any kind of reasonable living.. say 40k+) really think they are going to get an overall tax break with this guy.

Uh, they will.

It's just amazing to me that people still believe campaign rhetoric despite the mountain of evidence (Remember Clinton's promised middle class tax cut? Remember Bush 1's no-new-taxes pledge? Remember almost anything GWB said?) to the contrary. But wait, I forgot Obama's the Messiah, so of course he'd never lie.

Quit assuming everyone supporting Obama is some kind of mind-numbed robot worshipping a "messiah". This is common sense. Just about every one of Obama's advisors have stated that a middle class tax cut will be necessary to jump start the economy. He doesn't have the luxury Clinton did of the tech boom. If he doesn't deliver, he knows his administration will look like Carter's.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: Lothar
I have a simple plan to fix the AMT.

Index it to inflation.

Works for me. I recall hearing that something was done on AMT on the second recent bailout bill, does anyone have that info? Abolishing the AMT is a bad idea, IMO - fix it.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: Fern
snip-

It's rare that candidates go into that level of detail when discussing tax policies before the election, including Bush.
Look at Obama's *official* tax plan, AMT is addressed. But all I noticed was that he supports indexing the exemption for inflation. If that's all he has in mind, it isn't going to help with eth senario I described above.

Obama has brought up the AMT and how broken it is numerous times on the campaign trail. Besides, if he is making promises he knows he can't keep, why stop at the top 5%? Why not just say he's going to lower everybody's taxes regardless?
Seriously? A Dem promising to cut taxes for the rich? Wouldn't that undercut everything they've been complaining for years?


All of Obama's top advisors believe lower taxes for the middle class spur the economy. He's smart enough to realize that there is no reason to risk an extension of the economic downturn during his first term just to take in incrementally more tax revenue.

See bolded

Fern

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: Lothar
I have a simple plan to fix the AMT.

Index it to inflation.

Works for me. I recall hearing that something was done on AMT on the second recent bailout bill, does anyone have that info? Abolishing the AMT is a bad idea, IMO - fix it.

Yeah

Here ya go:
Link

The exemption amount was about to default/sunset to old (unadjusted for inflation) levels

Since 2001, Congress has temporarily increased income exemption levels. The last "patch" - for 2006 - put the exemption levels at $62,550 for joint filers and $42,250 for single filers. The bill the House passed calls for an increase in those levels to $66,250 and $44,350, respectively. Without a patch, the 2007 exemption amounts would have fallen to $45,000 for joint filers and $33,750 for single filers.

It was estimated that AMT wouldn't kicked in for (a new/additional bunch of) 21 million people

Fern

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: Fern

Look at Obama's *official* tax plan, AMT is addressed. But all I noticed was that he supports indexing the exemption for inflation. If that's all he has in mind, it isn't going to help with eth senario I described above.

You can't expect a pre-election tax plan to address specifics to that level. It doesn't mean he doesn't plan to address it. Once again, his campaign realizes how important truly cutting middle class taxes are to an economic recovery, and he's not stupid enough to risk extending the downturn. It's really not a stretch to believe that he'll follow through on his word on this.

Seriously? A Dem promising to cut taxes for the rich? Wouldn't that undercut everything they've been complaining for years?

Dems may have something to gain from piling on big corporations/rich people, but they have nothing to gain from saying that they will be taxed more.