Middle-Class Relief From Alternative Taxation's Bite Passed With No Revenue or Spending Offsets [View All]

Source: Washington Post

Eleven months after adopting stringent new rules aimed at reining in the federal deficit, the Senate last night shrugged off its pledge of fiscal rectitude and overwhelmingly approved a measure to spare millions of families from the growing reach of the alternative minimum tax without providing an offsetting tax increase.

Despite the heavy toll the AMT exacts on some middle-class taxpayers, Congress has been loath to repeal it outright because that would leave a trillion-dollar hole in the federal budget over 10 years. Instead, successive Congresses have opted for one-year "patches" that hide the long-term cost. The Senate-passed bill would spare the middle-class households touched by the AMT an average of $2,000-per-family increase on 2007 income taxes and would ensure that refunds of as much as $75 billion would be distributed without delay.







Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120601242.html?hpid=topnews

---

This is actually great news for many -- and a big surprise -- word today was this was DOA.

Was it economically irresponsible to break the "pay go" rule? Depends on your philosophy. I like to think this is a huge relief for most of us working class folks who would've shouldered a big tax increase right about the time mortgages reset, gas prices go up, and the economy cools.