WASHINGTON, D.C. – By a vote of 233 to 189, the United States House of Representatives voted today to protect middle-income Americans from a tax increase this fiscal year by passing H.R. 6275, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Relief Act of 2008. Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Assistant to the Speaker of the House and the only congressional member from Southern California on the Ways and Means Committee, voted for the bill.
“America's working families are in desperate need of relief in today's economy," Rep. Becerra said. "With this bill we are protecting millions of middle-income families from being hit with a tax increase, without adding a penny to the deficit. This is a fiscally responsible and much-needed measure."
The AMT Relief Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to protect 25 million middle-income taxpayers from being hit with the AMT, a provision of the tax code originally intended to ensure that wealthy individuals who were paying few or no taxes pay their fair share, but was never adjusted for inflation.
H.R. 6275 would increase the AMT exemption amount to $69,950 for joint filers and $46,200 for individuals. The act is expected to cost $61.52 billion over ten years.
To compensate for the tax relief the bill closes several tax loopholes for wealthy individuals and corporations. The act would restrict investment fund managers from paying taxes at a capital gains rate except when the income registered is deemed a reasonable return on invested capital, raising an estimated $30.98 billion over ten years. The measure would also disallow large, integrated oil and gas companies from including their gross receipts in their domestic production deductions. This provision is estimated to raise $13.57 billion over ten years.
Further, the bill would require financial institutions and merchants to report all payment card transactions for taxation purposes, both the initial transactions, and the reimbursements of these institutions to merchants post-sale. This will garner an estimated $9.80 billion over ten years. Finally, the measure would restrict wealthy individuals and multi-national corporations from avoiding taxes on income earned in the United States by filtering the income through companies and countries with which the United States has a tax treaty. This proviso proposal is estimated to raise $6.94 billion over ten years.
"Unlike the previous congress, we pay for this targeted tax relief up front instead of passing added debt on to the next generation," Rep. Becerra said.
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