Posted on 07/20/2005 12:51:23 PM PDT by Your Nightmare
Members of President Bush's advisory panel on tax reform largely agree that the individual alternative minimum tax, or AMT, should be fully repealed the committee's chairman said Wednesday.
"I think the obvious consensus was on the AMT on the individual side. We didn't end up with a consensus on the corporate side, even though I think it's fair to say that I think all panel members felt the corporate AMT was really not an effective way to tax," Chairman Connie Mack, a former Republican senator from Florida, told reporters after a public meeting of the committee.
The AMT is a parallel tax system created in 1969; it was enacted after it was revealed that a handful of extremely wealthy Americans paid no income tax. But thresholds for the AMT were never indexed for inflation. As a result, it has encompassed or threatened a growing number of middle-income taxpayers over the years. Lawmakers and administrations have responded by temporarily pushing up the threshold, but have yet to come up with a complete fix.
It's also become a substantial revenue source. Full repeal would reduce revenues by more than a trillion dollars over 10 years.
During the panel discussion, committee member Bill Frenzel said he agreed that it was time to "bite the bullet" and press for full repeal, but warned that doing so will put a "huge burden" on the panel to find a way to make up the lost revenues.
The panel's vice chairman, former Democratic Sen. John Breaux, said that while he's not a fan of the AMT, the panel must examine whether the full repeal of the system would allow some of the nation's highest earners to get away with paying no tax at all.
Mack replied that if that were the case, the committee would have to make adjustments in order to maintain roughly the same tax burden on the upper quintile of earners that is now in place.
The panel members agreed that changes to the corporate AMT would best be tackled as part of a broad corporate tax reform, Mack noted.
The committee, formally known as the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, must present the Treasury Department with a set of tax-reform proposals in September.
Bush has set a number of ground rules for the panel, however. The proposals must be revenue-neutral. Also, future tax measures can't touch the code's most sacred cows -- mortgage interest deduction and charitable giving.
Thanx for bumping the thread, though.Let's bump it again. People should see that the proposed FairTax rate is a fantasy.
Fantasy??? No - that's something like the Nightmare Flat/Nightmare VAT .. now THAT"S really a fantasy (2 of them in fact).
Neither of those exist while the FairTax is before both houses of Congress in bill form. You SQL folk merely like to think it's a fantasy to satisfy your own love of what we now have. Many of us are not so distracted but see the present system as not a fantasy but a nightmare, Nightie.
"And you wonder why people liken you FairTax Fanboys to a cult."
Which "people" are you referring to ... yourself, lewislynn, Willie Green, Always Right and Protagaras? Did I leave anyone out?
"This is the part of our show where I ask you to show an example of when I have been untruthful and you are unable to provide it."
1. You implied that Herman Cain lost his senate primary campaign in Georgia because of his support for the FairTax. You neglected to mention that both of the other two leading Republican contenders were co-sponsors of the FairTax bill in the house.
2. You stated that the White House had eliminated an NRST from consideration about 2 months into the Presidential Commission's process. That statement was contradicted by Treasury Secretary Snow in a televised interview at almost the exact same point in time.
3. You stated that the President was requiring that the home mortgage and charitable contribution deductions be kept.
Those are 3 that readily come to mind.
"You really are just a joke at this point (just like the FairTax)."
Typical SQL tactic. When your arguments fail, attack with insults. That is sure to convert the fencesitters!
"Between the two, I'd stand pat."
One of your infrequent truthful posts. The fact of the matter is that between the current system and ANY proposal that has been developed so far, you would stand pat. IOW, in the 200+ years that the republic has been in existence, not one alternative to the current system meets your exacting standards.
And yet you disengenuously claim that you aren't a defender of the status quo.
"It is comical how those fair taxers think. It is as if they are a bunch of brainwashed cult members."
You can always tell when the SQLs sense that they are losing the debate. That is when the insults begin.
"The government taxes itself right now, Always Wrong."
"LOL, no they don't. The federal government does not pay taxes directly to themselves as they would under the NRST."
Ohhhhhhhhh, so the important distinction is that the taxes that government pays now aren't DIRECTLY paid.
. You implied that Herman Cain lost his senate primary campaign in Georgia because of his support for the FairTax. You neglected to mention that both of the other two leading Republican contenders were co-sponsors of the FairTax bill in the house.I don't know what you are talking about.
You stated that the White House had eliminated an NRST from consideration about 2 months into the Presidential Commission's process. That statement was contradicted by Treasury Secretary Snow in a televised interview at almost the exact same point in time.Again, you are going to have to show me this one.
3. You stated that the President was requiring that the home mortgage and charitable contribution deductions be kept.Once more, show me the post.
By that standard, the sale tax winnies lost the debate before it even began. How many sale taxer post contain some derogatory reference such as Nightie, Always Wrong, Louie, SQL or some direct insult? Pot meat the kettle.
"It'll collect it from fewer taxpayers on more items...that's what the fuss is about."
1. Consumption is a larger tax base than taxable income, so it will collect it over a larger base.
2. Illegal immigrants, foreign visitors and the underground economy will be taxed, unlike the present system.
Your statement is demonstorably false.
Typical SQL tactic. When your arguments fail, attack with insults.And what is "SQL"? A complement?
One of your infrequent truthful posts. The fact of the matter is that between the current system and ANY proposal that has been developed so far, you would stand pat. IOW, in the 200+ years that the republic has been in existence, not one alternative to the current system meets your exacting standards.BS, and you know it.
"I see you lost your ticks. Did you get dipped?"
LOL!!! A classic.
Now if he could just get rid of those darned ole fleas.
Yes, unless you can show me those embedded costs the government now pays will be eliminated and the savings passed on to the government under the NRST. A point sales taxers will never concede, but is obviously true, unless employees take a pay cut so the cost can be removed from the costs of goods and services in the amount of the taxes the employees now pay, a sales tax will increase the costs of goods and services. So thus the same amount of money under the income tax will buy a lot more goods and services than that money under the NRST. It is a fact as plain as the sky is blue.
"According to one of their moron's examples (It must have been their AFT Scientologist director of research)...."
My, my, the insults are flying on this thread, aren't they? (in one direction only, from what I have observed so far) That's a sure sign the SQLs are losing the debate.
"I put this together simply because every time you try to debate the Sales Tax worshipers you are called names such as commie, NAZI, IRS-lover, liar, and disrupter. So let the name-calling began."
Hate to break the news to you, AR, the name calling on this thread has already begun. As I pointed out on a prior post, the insults have been flying hot and heavy. Of course, they totally escaped your notice since they were aimed at FairTaxers.
"I'm self-employed, IRS hates me."
Hard to believe anyone could hate a sweet and lovable guy like you.
"I should know better than to try to inform cult members of the truth. As usual it is a waste of time to try to make a logical point with brain-dead zoombies."
Aren't you the one who whines constantly about insults? Could it be the reason that you get insulted so much is that that is your standard mode of operation?
That takes an awefully lot of careful selective reading to come to that bazaar conclusion.
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