Judd Gregg: “Essentially, this amendment would repeal the AMT permanently, as it relates to middle-income Americans. It is currently…”

“Essentially, this amendment would repeal the AMT permanently, as it relates to middle-income Americans. It is currently wrong that we have this tax. It was never intended to be a tax that would cover 20 million Americans. It was supposed to hit high-income individuals who were avoiding taxes, using legal tax vehicles but basically avoiding paying any income tax. It has turned into a monster where literally 20 million Americans would be subject to the tax unless it is adjusted. This budget presumes that it will be abated for this year. There is no reason to keep these revenues in the baseline because we know we will do this again next year and the year after that. It is time to correct this permanently and stop having these illusory revenues, which we turn around and spend, and it creates inappropriate expectations and leads to less fiscal discipline here. This is an attempt to address the issue by essentially repealing the AMT and addressing the fact that if we don't do this, 20 million Americans will be hit with this tax, and that was never the intention of the Federal Government, to get revenues from them. It is wrong to have it on the books.”