Story Comments

Failure to reduce the effect of these unintended consequences is typical of a congress as self centered as this and the previous one. I have trouble finding any legislation they have passed that actually did any good. I did notice a lot of pork and another failure to eliminate the practice.

I wonder how many congressmen and women pay this tax.
Our government is a leach on the middle-class.
Wonder whose blood they'll drain when the middle class is gone?
If we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.

I find it difficult to imagine that PA residence serves as an AMT tax haven. By the time you add the various local taxes to the PA State tax, I strongly suspect that you are in the same range as in NY or NJ.

The much vilified AMT was born out of a rational desire to insure that those benefiting most from our system pay their 'fair' share in maintaining it. Like most solutions designed by committee the solution is imperfect. At the very least the AMT should have been adjusted for inflation. On a more fundamental level the solution should have eliminated or capped deductions in the tax code that are designed to favor certain industries or investments over others rather than simply raise revenue for desired services. State income taxes should not be capped while one may be able to make a case that real estate taxes should be. I would also advocate that investment income be treated the same as earned income. All this would require substantial revision of our tax code which, sadly, is not going to happen in my lifetime.