[GOP_1900AD]

When people who live in 1200 square foot houses and drive average cars have to do AMT, there is something fundamentally wrong with the concept.

[GovernmentShrinker]

There was always something fundamentally wrong with the concept. Aside from disproportionately penalizing success and productivity, it has never taken into account the huge cost of living discrepancies between different parts of the country. A family of four with $200,000 annual income, living in rural Iowa is living in great luxury -- big house on a big lot, multiple cars, private schools if they want them, plenty of extra cash for vacations, whole new wardrobes every season, and all the latest epectronic gadgets. A family of four with $200,000 annual income, living in Manhattan or many parts of California, is barely getting by -- with the extra heavy state and local income taxes, and sales taxes, half the income is gone from the get-go, renting or buying a very modest 3 bedroom apartment will swallow up about half of post-tax income, parking spaces rent for $300/month and up, so no way to afford more than one car (and in Manhattan many families in the $200,000+ income range have no car at all), and private schools for the kids would run around $25,000/year per child, so totally out of the question (and the public schools in those areas tend to be really hellish).

[zerosix]

There always has been "something wrong" with it. The only reason that the U.S. taxes as many people as much as it does falls under one of the Seven Deadly Sins: Envy, and congresscritters have been getting by with this since FDR.

The "someone has something that I don't have" mentality is and continues to be a big problem in the U.S.