Sam Brownback: “this is a very simple but very important amendment in the sense that the new surtaxes on Medicare, on wages, and on…”

“this is a very simple but very important amendment in the sense that the new surtaxes on Medicare, on wages, and on unearned income are not indexed for inflation. All of my colleagues are familiar with the problem we have had with the alternative minimum tax being not indexed for inflation, and with that being a problem, it is now built into this bill. This new surtax is not indexed for inflation. If I can show my colleagues for a moment, on this chart, we can see how quickly, with a 4-percent rate of inflation, the people who are getting the subsidy today will be taxed as high income in a few years. This is a problem we are very familiar with. We fight with it regularly. It is part of the funding base of this bill. It needs to be taken out. The bill should not be paid for with inflation, and we are all too likely to have significant inflation. So I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.”