Ferrablog

Brilliant piece in Slate about the alternative minimum tax (AMT). Bush and the Republicans, in all of their tax-cutting zeal, have been strangely muted on fixing the AMT, which is now snaring many more folks than it was originally intended to. Here's a possible reason why:

The AMT seems designed to snare people who earn between $200,000 and $500,000; who work in fields like finance and technology; and who live in places where property taxes and state and local income taxes are high, like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and Oregon—states that are resolutely Democratic.

If AMT was substantially reduced, or eliminated, then Bush would either have to scale back his current tax cuts, or see the deficit balloon even higher. In other words, don't hold your breath for AMT relief.