Political Quotes

“our current tax system has spiraled out of control. Today's tax code is unfair, discourages savings and investment, and is impossibly complex. There is no part of the tax code that demonstrates this more than the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT is a nefarious policy enacted to prevent a small number of wealthy taxpayers from using legitimate deductions to reduce their taxes, and thus taxing them at a higher rate. However, the AMT was never indexed to inflation, and without reform, it threatens to ensnarl middle class taxpayers. When the AMT was first created, it affected fewer than 20,000 taxpayers. Today it affects 4.2 million, and this number could rise. Without action by Congress, 20 million more taxpayers would be forced to pay on average $3,000 more in taxes, this year alone. In my district this egregious tax would engulf more than 55,000 taxpayers. Congress must find a permanent solution to this offensive tax; in fact, a solution is long overdue. However, what we are presented with today is not a permanent solution or even a solution. This ill-conceived legislation puts in place permanent tax increases, on some of the driving forces of our economy, to pay for a temporary patch to the AMT. It is wrong for AMT relief to be subject to Pay-Go rules. The AMT was never intended to affect this many people and is working as a massive tax increase each year.”