KAPLOWITZ RENEWS CALL FOR ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX REFORM
-- CALLS ON SENATORS CLINTON AND SCHUMER TO STEP IN AND CONVINCE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER FRIST TO ALLOW VOTE BY END OF THE YEAR --
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : December 27, 2005
Contact: Michael B. Kaplowitz
Tel: (914) 995-2848 or (914) 924-3404 cell
Last week, in a last ditch effort to save County taxpayers from an expiring reprieve in the nation’s Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) law, Westchester County Legislator Michael B. Kaplowitz (D-I-WF, Somers), chairman of the County Board’s Budget & Appropriations Committee, wrote to NY Senators Schumer and Clinton pleading that they do everything possible to convince Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to bring the AMT exemption legislation to the floor for a vote before the end of the year so that Westchester residents, along with millions of middle-class Americans, can avoid being penalized by the AMT.
In July of this year, Kaplowitz commenced a grassroots movement to bring about AMT reform by sponsoring Resolution No. 173-2005 calling for AMT reform, which was passed unanimously by the Westchester County Legislature.
The AMT was created in 1969 as a means to ensure that the very wealthiest taxpayers did not use loopholes to avoid paying federal income taxes. However, failure to adjust the AMT to inflation has created an enormous burden on working families.
In his letter Kaplowitz points out that if, as Majority Leader Frist proposes, current exemption limits are allowed to expire, more than 15 million more middle-class families will be forced to pay the AMT. This would be a severe hardship on the majority of American taxpayers and is entirely preventable.
“Until the federal government addresses the issue of the AMT, the middle class taxpayers in Westchester County and throughout the nation will continue to unfairly bear the burden of this tax,” said Kaplowitz. “This was never the intention of this tax.”
According to Kaplowitz, when a taxpayer triggers the AMT, the number of deductions they can claim are significantly reduced, resulting in more middle class families paying higher federal taxes.
Kaplowitz also noted that taxpayers in four states – New York, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts – who rely heavily on deductions like property tax, state and local income taxes and the child exemption, account for nearly half the people paying the AMT across the country. “This extraordinary growth is the result of the AMT not being indexed for inflation, unlike the regular income tax,” Kaplowitz stated.
