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Slight modification...... Posted by MI-Roger [Email]  (#882) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from MI-Roger) on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 06:14:10
In Reply to: AMT was started to punish people. We got what we wanted, jimc, Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:02:22 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The AMT was started because a very few wealthy individuals were abusing the tax system by taking an excessively high quantity of legal tax deductions and credits. Some may call these individuals (and their tax advisors) smart, or shrewd, or crafty; but the result of their efforts was tax filers with incomes over $1 Million who paid ZERO Taxes!
If the concept of an income tax system is that we all pay in accordance to our abilities, then they were cheating the rest of us.
This gave rise to the Alternative Minimum tax, or AMT, which is almost a flat tax (as you said, we better be careful what we ask for!) and abolishes nearly all tax deductions while calculating using a different method (an alternative method) as the minimum tax a filer must pay.
The concept is still as fair as it ever was (good or bad) but the thresholds at which a tax filer must calculate potential AMT liability has never been raised. An income level which was considered very high 20+ years ago is now considered in the middle range. Instead of the AMT ensnaring only the very few wealthy individuals who were trying to dupe the system, it will now be capturing a projected 25 Million tax payers!
What percentage of the total tax "payers" is 25 Million? Assuming a population of 300 million, subtracting out minors, joint filers, and those who qualify for Earned Income Credit, does the 25 million represent 50% of all tax payers, or 25%, or 15%? Just curious.
posted by 68.40.14...
_______________________________________ Saabs owned: 2008 9-5 Aero Sedan, sold at 227K miles 2006 9-3SC 2.0T - Wife's daily driver 2000 Viggen Convertible - Sold May, 2022 1964 Quantum IV Formula Car - Retirement project 2000 9-5lpt Sedan, sold at 318K miles
, Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:41:12, Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:10:26, Sat, 23 Jun 2007 06:14:10 <-- Viewing This Message
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