A Simple, Progressive Replacement for the AMT

Publication Date: May 2007

Publisher: Tax Policy Center

Author(s): Leonard E. Burman; Greg Leiserson

Research Area: Banking and finance

Keywords: Tax Policy; Tax Distribution and Economic Trends; Tax Reform; Simplification and Administration

Type: Report

Abstract:

The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally an add-on tax intended to assure that high income people paid at least some tax. It has morphed and mutated over time, and now is on track to hit 23 million households in 2007. This note describes an option that would return the AMT by repealing the AMT and replacing it with an add-on tax of four percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) above $100,000 for singles and $200,000 for couples. It is a simple, approximately revenue neutral over the ten-year budget window and highly progressive.