Democrat and Republican elected officials are both guilty of abusing the American Middle Class Taxpayers.
The majority of the members of the House and Senate both chose to follow the current administration's back door attempt to put more of the tax burden on the group of taxpayers who already cringe at the amount of federal income taxes taken from their paychecks each month. Now, the Middle Class Taxpayers have a penalty tax to pay for trying to live the American dream of owning your home and raising a family.
If you have not felt the sting of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) yet, don't worry your turn is coming. You will feel the pain if you are a Middle Class Taxpayer making $75,000 or more each year. Sometimes you can be stuck paying this extra PENALTY tax even if you make less than $75,000. With the additional penalty tax due this year averaging an additional $2770.00 on top of what you already pay in federal taxes, get ready to tell your children no quite often this year as you try to pay the unexpected thousands of dollars in additional taxes. You may have to cancel or cut back on your vacation plans. Hope you like pork chops instead of steaks.
I did call it a penalty tax because you are penalized for being a homeowner (property taxes), having a large family (personal exemptions), having Long Term Capital Gains, or having to pay state and local taxes. Instead of theses items being allowed as personal deductions, these "Tax Preference Items" listed are some of the triggers that cause you to have to pay the additional PENALTY tax. I feel for the taxpayers who live in California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Their very high property taxes and very high state/local taxes will make them some of the hardest hit taxpayers in America under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Kiss your previous deductions goodbye.
You can thank the elected officials in charge all the way back to when the Alternative Minimum Tax was first enacted with no provisions made to take inflation into consideration. The tax act passed in 1969 to make the wealthiest pay their fair share of taxes is now being used to reach inside the pockets of millions of Middle Class Taxpayers to steal their hard earned money with a tax not intended for them in the first place. Elected Republicans and Democrats alike especially in the last twenty years have known the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) was not indexed for inflation. Each administration, Republican or Democrat alike, since 1969 to the present administration has chosen to ignore the important need to fix the tax act.
The most damaging administration to the American Taxpayer is the present Republican Administration at the Whitehouse and the Republicans still working in Congress and in the Senate. They knew the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) would start hitting the middle class tax payer's pocket books in 2004 yet they deliberately chose to use the tax act to their advantage instead of fixing the problem. The Republicans gave two tax breaks to insure they would be reelected while always intending to get the money back from the Middle Class Taxpayer through this tax act. Is this a fact? They put the anticipated tax revenue stolen from the Middle Class Taxpayers into the federal budget for numerous years to come with no mention in the President Bush's latest budget to reduce or repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax.
The Republicans came to Washington in 2000 with promises of tax breaks. I still remember President Bush smiling as he announced them. Now, I know why he and the majority Republican leaders on the hill were really smiling. They had fooled the Middle Class American Taxpayer into thinking he went to Washington for them. We smiled when the Republicans passed the two tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 but are we smiling now with the known fact that the Republicans threw the Middle Class Taxpayer under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) runaway train now racing toward millions of unsuspecting Middle Class Taxpayers? Are we smiling now knowing that our income is being reduced by almost $250.00 more a month in additional federal income taxes?
The Republicans in the present administration are not the only guilty elected officials. The Democrats could have fought harder to fix the problem but chose not to during the Clinton Administration's eight years in office. There is plenty of blame to go around for both political parties. However, it is extremely disappointing the present Republican Administration tricked us with their carnival shell game then they announce a commission to study the problem when their hand was caught deep in the cookie jar.
What can we do as the Middle Class Taxpayers?
We can start by throwing out any Republican or Democrat elected official found responsible for trying to rob us with a tax law never intended for the Middle Class Taxpayers in the first place. There are plenty of guilty elected officials from both parties still left on the hill who have been involved in this assault on the American Middle Class Taxpayer. They are guilty by their actions or their silence on this issue. None of them can plead ignorance to the fact that we are getting shafted especially the Republicans who have been in control of Washington for the last eight years. They could have stopped the runaway tax penalty train but chose to take our hard earned money.
The Middle Class Taxpayer can and should send a clear message to Washington by seeking another political party strong enough to stop the abuse taking place against them.
With twenty-two million tax payers scheduled to be penalized by the Alternative Minimum Tax this year and fifty-two million being penalized by the year 2015, I would say there will be plenty of angry voters ready for real changes in a two party system that has forgotten the Middle Class Taxpayers.
It is time for a third major political party to emerge and now may be just the right time for a new political party to gain a major foothold into the American Political System with millions of voters disillusioned by the assault on their pocket books.