My Latest Tax Experience

Did you know there is such an animal as the Alternative Minimum Tax? Originally this creature was created to force some of the wealthiest in our country to pay taxes as they had previously found so many ways to make deductions that they owed little to no income tax. The government spotted their clever ruse and decided to make a way to force these misers to actually pay. Unfortunately, like so many government institutions and ideas, once enacted the AMT was never updated to reflect inflation and tax cuts. Consequently the AMT no longer applies to the upper class but increasingly manages to snare folks in the middle class range as well. Basically the AMT says that if you make over X number of dollars and also have more than Y number of deductions (thus reducing the amount of federal income tax you owe), there is a chance that the government will say NO WAY to your tax rate and put you in a higher bracket, forcing you to pay more. The AMT dollar figure started high but isn't so high anymore. Needless to say I was a little peeved when I was schooled on this matter. But not to worry, I have sufficiently calmed myself after learning that Congress took another look at the cooky AMT and did some revising so as to leave us middle of the roaders out.