Alternative Maximum Tax

Yeah, I know that the "M" in "AMT" is supposed to stand for "Minimum", but if you read my previous rants, you know that I also disagree that the "Earned Income Credit" is anything that somebody earned. No the AMT is an alternative tax that is designed to make sure you pay the maximum possible tax.

The AMT was established in the 1960's to ensure that very wealthy people hiding behind numerous tax shelters still had to pay at least some tax. Well, guess what? We've had quite a few changes to the tax code in the past three decades. Those shelters just don't exist anymore, so the entire justification for the AMT is obsolete by more than a decade. The only tax shelter I've ever seen was the novelty one my aunt gave me, consisting of three carpet tacks with a small roof over them.

But it's even more ridiculous. Back in 1969, the AMT probably snagged fewer than 30 people in the entire U.S., but the threshholds were never indexed for inflation. Again, guess what? "Very wealthy" in 1969 and "very wealthy" today are two very different things; $60K was a lot of money in '69, but today a family of four pulling in $60K/year is only borderline middle class. And what was fewer than 30 people then, now, well, you need to tack five more zeroes onto that 30. (For the math-impaired, that's three million.)

As it is, a fraction of my itemized deductions is already discounted away (it's called IRC Section 68). But then to slap an Alternative Maximum Tax on top of what I already have to cough up is simply evil incarnate.