John Kerry: The Real Record on Tax Cuts

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry: The Real Record on Tax Cuts
May 17th, 2006 @ 1:50 pm

With confidence in the GOP at a new low, today President Bush signed H.R. 4297, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, into law – a tax package that will cost $70 billion over the next five years. This law does nothing to address the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) crisis beyond 2006. The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation has stated that 23 million taxpayers will be impacted by the AMT in 2007 if no Congressional action is taken.

The Bush Administration Has Continually Refused to Fix the AMT Tax Hike on Middle Class Families:

· Bush’s much-trumpeted $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 missed a golden opportunity to permanently address the AMT and keep middle class families from paying higher taxes. Instead, it exacerbated the number of taxpayers that will be impacted by the AMT. Only 1 percent of the cost of the 2001 tax cut bill was spent on addressing the looming AMT problem.

· The Bush Administration’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2007 included a provision to extend the AMT exemption amount retroactively for 2006 – not for 2007, the year the budget is for. This provision only extended the ATM exemption amount and did not increase it. This would have resulted in an additional 1.2 million taxpayers being impacted by the AMT.

· New data from the Joint Committee on Taxation shows that in 2007, 62 percent of all taxable capital gain income will be recognized by taxpayers liable for the minimum tax. Simply put, taxpayers forced to carry the AMT burden will not benefit from the lower capital gains and dividends rates.

John Kerry’s Plan:</div>

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