Geez, trying to do any sort of year-end tax planning is getting complicated. First, I was drafting a post on AMT reform having stalled in the Senate…and while writing, I hear that the Senate did actually move forward. From the AP:
The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors.
The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum tax but without matching the cost of the tax relief with new tax revenues. Without the fix, an estimated 25 million people would be subject to the higher AMT tax, up from 4 million in 2006.
The Senate vote puts it at odds with the House, where Democratic leaders, under a principle of not adding to the national debt, demanded that the AMT fix be paid for. Last month, the House passed legislation matching the AMT fix and other tax cuts with about $80 billion in new tax revenues.
Let’s see…and the IRS forms for 2007 tax filing were “finalized” a couple of weeks ago, right?