The Rangel AMT Proposal Versus Unpaid-For Repeal of the AMT: Which Is Better Tax Reform?

Publication Date: February 2008

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Aviva Aron-Dine

Research Area: Banking and finance

Type: Report

Abstract:

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel introduced major tax legislation (H.R. 3970) that would repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax and finance repeal by imposing an income tax surcharge on high-income households. This analysis focuses on the bill’s AMT proposal. That proposal meets the key criteria for tax reform: it eliminates a feature of the current tax code that suffers from a number of problems and replaces the lost revenue in a way that is simpler, more progressive, and probably more economically efficient.