Posted on 12/14/2005 10:35:25 AM PST by RedStateRocker
"WASHINGTON - Congress won't address the growing reach of the alternative minimum tax this year, leaving more than 15 million individuals and families subject to its bite for the first time next year. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) told reporters yesterday that legislation addressing the alternative minimum tax would not be completed this year. Lawmakers can act next year to make retroactive changes that ensure taxpayers do not pay more in 2006, but millions will start the year in its grasp."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
How do you know who I vote for? As a matter of fact, I let a caller from the RNC know exactly why I was NOT donating any more money to the party.
No; it's not a bad idea. In fact, doing away with the IRS is a GREAT idea. Way too intrusive.
"if some dude wants to buy a 5 million dollar house with a 4 million dollar mortgage, I don't want to subsidize that."
That's understandable. But we came very close to hitting it last year, with an AGI of about $120,000 for the two of us, and a mortgage of about $300,000. That's not Trump Territory.
OK, then vote Dem - and you will get both the AMT and increases in the tax brackets too.
the AMT will be reformed by Congress in 2006.
Like how the 16th Amendment was originally sold. "It will only tax a few of the ultra-rich. The middle class has nothing to worry about."
that is right, and that is exactly why the limits need to be adjusted.
if you toss the whole AMT, the guy with a 4 million dollar mortgage on his summer house in the Hamptons is going to be paying less federal income tax then you and I.
No chance that I would vote for a Dem; but I will not send money to a party that claims to be for smaller government and then spends the country into oblivion.
I don't think the whole thing needs to be tossed at all, but it needs major recalibration, and the lead story on this thread indicates that neither side of Congress is in any rush to do anything about it. The Republicans drive the agenda and they don't seem to be too concerned.
Write to your congressman now. Let them know you are watching them and how they speak, and act, and vote, on this issue. And that they are GONE if they do not act concretely and definitively. Nothing they will do in the next session will affect more people, more directly, than this.
She better check her facts. Cashing CDs results in no tax (unless they're in a tax-deferred retirement plan (e.g., IRA or 401(k)), in which case the issue is not cashing CDs, but withdrawing pre-tax dollars from her retirement plan). If she has enough taxable income, up to 80% of her social security may be subject to income tax, but that's a lot different from "an 85% tax."
I agree with you. I don't know a way to "recommend" posts on this message board, but I'd definitely rec yours.
Look again - that's Republican Lucy holding the football, Charlie Brown.
ping
Another wimpout from the wimpmaster Frist.
Why is it a bad idea do tell
I used to get nailed by the AMT every year. Then I got smart and quit my employer, became self-employed and voila, no more AMT.
I paid $70,000 in FIT in 2000 and $19,500 in SIT (CA) that year. Two years of taxes exceeds the purchase price of my current home. Another 6 months would purchase both of my trucks in total.
why is it a bad idea? because I don't want to be paying full freight on my federal income tax, while some dude who has structured a 4 million dollar mortgage on his vacation Malibu beach house gets to get full credit for that deduction and reduce his federal income tax liability to some astonishingly low number.
when we have these threads about taxes, I can understand everyone coming in here and saying "I hate taxes". Hey, I hate them too, but someone has to pay.
the original intent of the AMT was sound - its the thresholds that need significant adjustment.
I have to agree with Walter Brennen (Of the Real McCoys TV show in the 60's. He said, "If 10% is good enough for the Lord, it ought to be good enough for the government."
I think the Congress should repeal the Earned Income Tax Credit and revise the tax tables so that the poor have to pay taxes like the rest of us do. The poor (or their Democrat politicians) have learned that they can vote themselves Federal benefits and have the 30% of Americans who pay taxes pay the freight. In simple terms, they outnumber us.
If everyone had to pay at least some taxes, the politicians would have to pay a bigger price when they tried to raise them. I'd go so far as to say that if they don't pay taxes (income), they shouldn't be able to vote because they aren't contributing to the society they are trying to regulate.
I'd run for President on this platform, but then I'd have to move to DC..... Nah, not worth it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.