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1 1 (October 9, 2008)

handle is hein.tera/crstax0015 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22909 Updated October 9, 2008 ACRS Report for Congress The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals: Legislative Activity in the 1 10th Congress Steven Maguire Specialist in Public Finance Government and Finance Division Jennifer Teefy Information Research Specialist Knowledge Services Group Summary The alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individuals was originally enacted to ensure that all taxpayers, especially high-income taxpayers, pay at least a minimum amount of federal taxes. However, the AMT is not indexed for inflation, and this factor, combined with recent reductions in the regular income tax, has greatly expanded the potential impact of the AMT. Temporary provisions intended to mitigate the effects of the AMT expired at the end of 2006, and Congress worked throughout 2007 to enact an AMT patch. The patch for the 2007 tax year, as provided for in the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-166), enacted on December 26, 2007, set the AMT exemption levels for 2007 at $66,250 for joint filers and $44,350 for single filers. The AMT exemption amounts for the 2008 tax year would have been $45,000 for joint filers and $33,750 for single filers without a patch. On October 3,2008, the House approved and the President signed H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-343), which patched the AMT for 2008 without an offset. The act increases the AMT exemption amount to $69,950 for joint filers and $46,200 for individuals. This report will be updated as legislative action warrants. Introduction In 1969, after a number of high-visibility television, magazine, and news stories about a relatively small number of extremely wealthy individuals who paid virtually no income taxes, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individuals was enacted to ensure Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress