About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

231 IRET Congressional Advisory 1 (2007)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/iretcgadv0228 and id is 1 raw text is: INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON THE ECONOMICS OF TAXATION
IRET is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) economic policy research and educational organization devoted to informing
the public about policies that will promote growth and efficient operation of the market economy.

November 8, 2007

Advisory No. 231

HOUSE TO VOTE ON AMT PATCH

The House of Representatives is about to act on
an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch for 2007
(H.R. 3996 - Temporary Tax Relief Act on 2007). It
would prevent 21 million additional taxpayers from
falling under the AMT. The House would replace the
additional revenue that is forecast to come from the
rising AMT burden by enacting several offsets (tax
hikes). The Senate will have to consider the issue
after the House acts. The Senate appears to be less
inclined to require offsets. Reaching an agreement
between the two chambers may take until December.
The tax forms for 2008 will have to be printed with
instructions that follow old law, and will have to be
revised once the compromise becomes law. This
could lead to considerable confusion in the filing of
2007 tax returns.
The House bill
The House bill would raise the AMT exempt
amount for a couple filing jointly to $66,250 for 2007
(from $62,550 in 2006 - an inflation adjustment from
last year's patched level). If no action were taken,
the exempt amount would revert to the permanent,
unindexed level of $45,000, set in 1993 when the
AMT underwent a major expansion. (Corresponding
figures for a single filer are $44,350 for 2007, up
from $42,500 in 2006 and a base amount of $33,750.)
Reversion to the permanent levels would entrap about
21 million additional taxpayers in the AMT, costing
them an average of about $2,000 in higher tax.
The bill would also extend a number of expiring
business, education, and charity-related tax provisions
(labeled extenders). Some of these (such as the
R&E credit) have been part of the tax code on a
temporary basis for years if not decades. Minor
provisions assisting some of the homeowners caught
up in the subprime credit mess are also included.

House Pay-Go rules require offsetting tax hikes.
The House is expected to propose several tax
increases to offset the revenue loss from the 2007
AMT patch and the extenders. The object is to
conform the bill to the so-called Pay-Go rule that
the House has adopted. Under Pay-Go, any change in
tax law that results in a projected loss of revenue from
current-law baseline forecasts must be offset by a
rise in other taxes or a cut in entitlement spending.
Preventing one tax increase by enacting another is
no favor to the taxpayers.
A true tax baseline would consist of tax revenues
that remain roughly stable over time as a share of
national income. The tax structure, rates, and rules
should not drift in reaction to inflation or other trends
in the economic or social environment.
Unfortunately, current law contains features that
will generate automatic tax increases on a rising
number of taxpayers over time, and will command a
rising share of national income without any further
votes by the Congress.    These stealth tax rate
increases may please Congress, but they will harm
taxpayers and damage the economy. Current law is
not an honest baseline. Preventing those stealth tax
increases should not be regarded as a tax reduction,
and should not require an offsetting tax increase.
Allowing long-time deductions and credits to
expire must be felt as a tax increase by those affected.
In addition, the AMT will impose tax increases year
after year as far as the eye can see, about $850 billion
over ten years. Again, these are tax increases, and are
not needed to keep revenues or sustain spending at
their current levels as a percent of GDP.

e~@m      kfl                            A         *    gg~    8

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most