Yay me, I'm living the American dream...

I got sucked into the AMT this year, I've earned the privilege of paying for the rich asshole's tax cuts!!!

:woohoo:

I'm Canadian, and unfamiliar with that acronym, yet I'm curious.

The Alternative Minimum Tax

Last year, a Boston-area high-tech company saw its stock plunge from a record high of $58.75 on January 20, to a low of $1.13 exactly 11 months later in November. One employee, who chose to remain anonymous for this article, exercised 1,000 options at $10 a share when the stock reached its peak. With April 16 nipping at her heels, she still owns the shares. Imagine her terror upon learning that the spread of $48.75 multiplied by the 1,000 shares - a total of $48,750 - is subject to a parallel tax system called the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, at a rate of up to 28 percent. Even though her stock currently is worth just $1,130, the resulting tax owed on the spread is $13,650.

Less and less alternative
Created in 1969, AMT was designed to prevent the very wealthy from dodging taxes through shelters and deductions. Taxpayers are required to calculate both their regular tax and what they would owe under the alternative system - then pay Uncle Sam the higher of the two figures. In effect, taxpayers are simply adding back some tax deductions and income exclusions to regular taxable income to arrive at the alternative minimum taxable income. However, because the AMT was never indexed to inflation, an increasing number of regular middle- and upper-middle-income folks find themselves owing the convoluted tax.

http://www.salary.com/money/layouthtmls/mnyl_display_nocat_Ser62_Par135.html

And yet there are still people who think cutting the rich's taxes means more money for everyone? :banghead:

first set many years ago to prevent the very wealthy from getting away with out paying taxes. It has never been indexed for inflation since what , the Carter days. Now normal middle class folks can get ensnared in this 'wealthy tax'. Sucks like a bilge pump.

It was originally created to insure that the wealthy actually paid some income tax, but has never been adjusted for inflation and rising overall incomes so now the middle earners among us are getting screwed.