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August 23, 2017 at 01:51 PM
Members of the Senate Finance Committee say there is broad bipartisan support for eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, which, while it has been tweaked nearly 20 times since its inception in 1969 and curbed in 2013, remains on the books and is ensnaring unwary taxpayers.
During Congress’ August recess, the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee launched a 31 Reasons for Tax Reform initiative that has included Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, convening with other lawmakers at the Reagan Ranch to tackle tax reform.
Said Brady from the Reagan Ranch on Aug. 21: “For the first time in over three decades we have a president, a House and a Senate who are all committed to overhauling this broken tax code and unleashing the growth of jobs and paychecks nationwide. … With your help, America, we can close the special-interest loopholes. We can lower tax rates for American families and job creators. We can vault America from nearly dead last among our global competitors back into the lead pack with one of the most pro-growth, pro-jobs tax codes on the planet. … This is our challenge. Together – working with President Trump, with leaders in the House and Senate, and with you, the American people – we will rise to this challenge just as our nation has risen to and prevailed over so many great challenges.”
Greg Valliere, chief global strategist for Horizon Investments, said Wednesday that negotiations between Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin; President Trump’s chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn; and congressional GOP leaders “are yielding progress.”
Horizon, Valliere said, thinks “a bill could come into focus within weeks. Enactment is still unlikely until next spring, because several controversial issues have to be resolved: a potential haircut for the mortgage deduction, abolition of the state and local tax break, the deductibility of corporate debt, etc.”
On Aug. 23, House Ways and Means zeroed in on how to address the dreaded AMT.
Eliminating the AMT was also being discussed on the other side of the aisle, with members of the Senate Finance Committee warning Wednesday that “more and more hardworking, middle-class families face the threat of falling into the ever-widening reach” of the AMT.
