Friday, January 09, 2009

AMT relief Suddenly Added to Obama Plan

Now this is an interesting development from the Dems.

Further, Democrats sought inclusion of relief for upper middle-class families hit by the alternative minimum tax. The so-called AMT was originally designed to make sure the very wealthy did not escape taxes, but it now hits many more people because of inflation, despite measures by Congress every year to prevent it from reaching tens of millions of middle-income families.

I think a lot of the jockeying from the Congress is for them to put their stamp on this bill instead of Obama getting all the credit for it. The bad part is that someone like Pelosi is actually tasked with running financial matters:

• Even before Obama’s plan was formally unveiled, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made plain her displeasure with parts of Obama’s emerging fiscal plan, which she believes does not move fast enough to raise taxes. “I couldn't be more clear,” she said Thursday at her weekly news conference. “Put me down as one in favor of repeal [of the Bush tax cuts] as soon as possible.”

In other words put me down as Herbert Hoover who raised taxes during a recession in order to make it deeper and more pronounced. I think Pelosi needs to listen to Obama's economic team who were able to talk him out of raising taxes until we are actually clear of the recession. Any tax hikes in the next 2-3 years are going to put us right into the 2nd Great Depression.

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