[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 173 (Thursday, November 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H13302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX FIX

  (Mr. HALL of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HALL of New York. Madam Speaker, if nothing is done soon, 27 
million families across the country will be obligated to pay the 
alternative minimum tax, the AMT. Over 100,000 of these middle-class 
families live in New York's 19th District. They will have to go through 
the tedious process of computing their tax returns twice, and they will 
end up having to pay thousands more than they otherwise would.
  The AMT is an unfair tax which in 1970, when it first took effect, 
only affected 155 households in the entire country. The people who pay 
it lose the opportunity to take many of the deductions and exemptions 
that make the tax code friendlier to families. Under the AMT, it 
doesn't matter what money is spent on health care, on property tax or 
on education; everyone pays the same amount of tax regardless.
  Tomorrow, we will consider legislation to allow almost 73,000 of my 
constituents to escape the AMT. Today, millions of middle-class 
families are in danger of being ensnared by a tax that was never 
intended to affect them.

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