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IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE; IT'S WORSE

August 18, 2008

Tax Vox comments on how the complexity of the alternative minimum tax plays out in the real world:

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has just released a report, based on a review of tax returns filed in 2006 that includes data on the number of taxpayers who misreported AMT liability, according to IRS computer checks. The TIGTA report shows that 61,000 taxpayers who owed AMT did not report it on their returns, Another 165,000 under-reported their AMT liability. I know one of those 61,000 -- a Ph.D. in biochemistry who is both scrupulously honest and not math-challenged.

It's the consequence of congresscritters who want to tax "the rich" with one hand while frantically giving out tax breaks with the other.

Tags: AMT.tax policy.