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AMT: IT'S FOR EVERYBODY!

December 18, 2003

Commentators are piling on the alternative minimum tax (AMT).

Today's Wall Street Journal Tax Report (subscription required) reports that Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson will call the AMT "the most serious problem encountered by taxpayers" in an upcoming report. "It's a train wreck," Ms. Olson says.

The article also forwards helpful advice from Len Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, on avoiding AMT:

"Get rid of your children, and move to a low-tax state."

The USA Today weighs in with Tax cuts may push some families into AMT trap (thanks to BenefitsBlog for the pointer):

The AMT was created in 1969 to prevent the super-rich from using sophisticated loopholes to avoid paying taxes. But because it wasn't indexed to inflation, the number of taxpayers who fall into the AMT net has increased. In 2003, an estimated 2.4 million taxpayers will pay the tax. Unless Congress changes the law, up to a third of all taxpayers will grapple with the AMT by the year 2010

We have discussed the AMT here and, more recently, here.

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