Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson supported legislation to provide tax relief to 23 million Americans who were slated to be subject to the Alterative Minimum Tax (AMT) this year. H.R. 3996, which provides temporary relief from the AMT for one year, was passed by the House of Representatives with a vote of 352-64 late Wednesday.
 
“The AMT is one of the worst provisions in our tax code, allowing the federal government to tax individuals at an arbitrary rate and forcing millions of American families to pay higher taxes,” Simpson said. “It was crucial that we passed a clean bill to protect these families from this tax hike before the end of the year.”
 
The AMT was originally established in 1969 to ensure that multi-millionaires could not itemize their taxes away, but the law was never indexed for inflation. Because of this mistake, even though most of the loopholes that originally prompted creation of the AMT have been closed, millions of middle class Americans are threatened with a huge tax hike each year.
 
“Our nation’s tax policy has reached a crisis point with regards to the AMT,” Simpson said. “I strongly support repealing our complicated tax system, but I do not believe that enacting a tax increase in order to prevent another tax increase is good policy. American taxpayers should not have to pay for Congress’s mistake.”
 
Congress passed a Senate amendment H.R. 3996 that removed provisions to raise taxes in order to pay for the AMT fix on Thursday, but not before House Democrats delayed passage of the fix for months. Because the one-year tax relief bill did not pass before the Department of Treasury printed the tax forms for 2007, taxpayers will likely wait months longer than usual to receive refund checks.
 
“Taxpayers have the right to receive as much of their income as possible,” said Simpson. “This fix should have happened months ago, but because of political games it was a last minute maneuver. These kind of tactics need to end, the American people deserve better.”
 
Congressman Simpson is a cosponsor of legislation, H.R. 3818, that would permanently eliminate the AMT without adding new taxes. He is also a cosponsor of legislation to permanently extend tax credits for families, teachers, and investors.