Ohio’s Conservative Bloggers Silent on the AMT Bill

When the Democrats took back congress in January they promised us legislation that would help working americans.

In addition to a minimum wage increase (which they passed) and health care for poor children (SCHIP – which the president vetoed), some democratic lawmakers also proposed changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) which threatens to burden millions of additional middle-class families over $50 billion in tax dollars this year.

Back in January, Rep. Rangel (House Ways and Means Committee) and Sen. Baucus (Senate Finance Committee) promised to address the AMT issue this year- as soon as they figured out how to offset the loss of the $914 billion in revenue.

I can imagine the republicans are fairly pissed off right now at the Dems for stealing THEIR “tax relief for the middle class” issue since the AMT has recently been a target of the Republicans.

In the past few years the AMT has been attacked by the National Taxpayers Union and was even labeled “taxpayer enemy No. 1.” by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa.

Earlier this year Matt at RAB reprinted a letter from my rep Republican Deb Pryce that called the AMT a “growing calamity.”

In the letter, Pryce explains that the original goal of the AMT was to ensure that a few extemely wealthy americans pay their fair share of taxes. Before the AMT was implemented, a handful of rich families “exploited various and legal tax shelters, credits, and loopholes” to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Pryce suggests that we need a new solution that “guarantees the original objectives sought by the creation of the AMT – equity in the distribution of the tax burden – without socking it to an unsuspecting middle class.”

So…

On Friday the democrats in the house did just that.

They passed a measure that would exempt middle-income families from the Alternative Minimum Tax and payed for it by closing tax loopholes that benefit the super-rich- EXACTLY as Deb Pryce suggested.

This may explain why Ohio’s conservative bloggers have been, so far, silent on the issue.

Except, of course, for Scott Pullins who posted a press release from the NRCC that attacks Zack Space on his vote in favor of the bill.

Funny thing is: a year ago, Scott posted IN FAVOR of an “alternative minimum tax (AMT) fix”.