The AMT needs to go

Article in Fortune about how the crummy AMT is overtaking our tax system. The govt. needs the balls to ditch this flawed system, but it brings in too much money. Its really bad for the American taxpayer. With this deficit, It seems unlikely they would want to get rid of a source of so much money. The problem will only get worse, as the AMT applies to more taxpayers each year, and earns a larger and larger share of income tax revenue.

Unlike the regular income tax, the AMT was never indexed for inflation, so every year it devours another mouthful of victims who, in real terms, are poorer than last year's batch. The beast has finally chewed its way down to the vast middle range of American taxpayers. Next year a family of four with an income of $67,890, barely north of the median income for all four-person households, will find itself right at the maw of the AMT. A family of four earning $80,000 will see its income tax jump 17%, a nasty shock that will surprise tens of millions of taxpayers in the next couple of years.

read