Released: December 05, 2007

AMT ‘patch’ seems unlikely this term

Source: Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, Washington Post (Free Registration)

uring the hectic, closing weeks of this session of Congress, leaders of both parties say they are determined to pass legislation that would prevent 23 million middle-income Americans from being hit with a tax increase originally designed to target only the super-rich.

But chances are slim that Congress will find the $50 billion over 10 years needed to pay for that legislation, in large part because a proposed tax increase on Wall Street firms and their managers lacks enough support in the Senate. A sprawling, big-money lobbying campaign appears to have succeeded in preventing the proposed tax increase on hedge funds and private-equity firms.

Yesterday, President Bush repeated his demand that Congress quickly repair the alternative minimum tax (AMT) so the middle-class would be spared an average $2,000-per-family increase on 2007 income taxes and refunds of up to $75 billion could be distributed without delay.

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