Capito on AMT Patch: ‘It's About Time'

Press Release

Capito on AMT Patch: ‘It's About Time'

Congresswoman Applauds Clean AMT Fix; Criticizes Political Games That Caused Lengthy Delays

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) today applauded long-overdue legislation to prevent thousands of West Virginians from being ensnared by the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

"This legislation has been a long time coming," noted Capito. "For months we've seen House leadership try to score political points with this bill, all while 21 million American taxpayers were left hanging in the balance. Thankfully, we now have a clean AMT fix that will shield more than 47,000 West Virginians from facing an average tax hike of nearly $2,000."

The Alternative Minimum Tax was created in 1969 to prevent a small number of high-income taxpayers from escaping the tax code, but because it was never indexed for inflation it now threatens more than 25 million American households.

In past years, Congress has passed bipartisan AMT relief early in the legislative year. Yet this year's delay impacted tax form printing and caused Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to warn that millions of American families may see a significant delay in their tax refund checks.

This most recent AMT bill is similar to legislation co-sponsored by Capito earlier this year and would provide AMT relief without raising taxes. The Senate version of the bill passed with wide bipartisan support on two separate occasions.

"It's important that Congress finally passed AMT tax relief," said Capito. "But American taxpayers deserved passage of this bill a long time ago."

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