[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26264-26265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               AMT REFORM

  (Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the 
Middle Class Fairness Act and the AMT, the alternative minimum tax. 
This tax was put in place years ago to basically cover a small group of 
wealthy taxpayers who were avoiding paying their taxes. Unfortunately, 
now it extends far beyond its initial intent in recent years. Now the 
AMT is actually punishing families and homeowners and the very credits 
that are in the current tax law, those credits that encourage savings, 
education, marriage, homeownership; they are all under attack by the 
AMT.
  I am from the State of New Jersey. Our State has the highest 
percentage

[[Page 26265]]

of people who are paying the AMT. Yet our State is the State with some 
of the highest taxes in the country. The solution to this problem? 
Well, it is relatively simple, two things: All we have to do is index 
the AMT, and, secondly, allow for the deductibility of taxes for those 
people who have to pay it. Reform is long overdue. The middle class 
deserves this reform in order to not any longer fall under the AMT.

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