[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[Senate]
[Pages 33511-33512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, last night, after months of political 
posturing, the Senate voted to prevent a massive tax burden from 
falling on 21 million Americans. Without last night's action, millions 
of middle-class Americans would have been impacted by the alternative 
minimum tax, a tax meant to impact only the wealthiest individuals. And 
while I believe the legislation we passed was not perfect, I would have 
preferred that we adhere to the pay-go rules that I voted for--it was a 
compromise I supported.
  I must express my disappointment at what it took to get us here. 
There was no disagreement over whether we should prevent middle-class 
families from being hit by the AMT. So why would it take months to get 
this legislation passed? Sadly, the debate surrounded whether or not we 
should pass the burden of paying for this fix onto the next generation. 
Republicans wanted to borrow money to pay for this tax cut, while 
Democrats argued that we should be more responsible and not leave our 
children with the bill.
  In addition to not offsetting the cost of the AMT fix, the Senate 
failed to pass a tax extenders package. In October, the House passed 
fully offset legislation that would both fix the AMT and extend certain 
tax provisions that will expire at the end of the year. These 
provisions--such as the research and development credit, the tuition 
deduction, and the deduction for teachers'

[[Page 33512]]

classroom expenses--are vital to millions of Americans. The Senate had 
an opportunity to renew these credits and deductions in a fiscally 
responsible manner. I hope my colleagues will reconsider in the coming 
weeks and will pass a tax extenders package before we adjourn for the 
year.
  Despite all this, we did the right thing in passing an AMT fix. The 
AMT was originally intended to prevent the wealthiest Americans from 
avoiding paying any income tax. But due to inflation and various 
changes in tax law, the AMT had morphed and grown--without last night's 
action, nearly two and a half million families making less than $75,000 
would have to pay the AMT. That is well beyond the scope of what 
Congress intended when the AMT was put in place, and I am glad we could 
take the necessary step to prevent that from happening.
  I hope my colleagues on the House side will move quickly to get this 
legislation passed. It is not perfect. Things around here rarely are. 
And while this bill is fiscally irresponsible, it is equally 
irresponsible to allow millions of Americans to be hit by a tax that 
was never intended for them.

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