Washington, Nov 9, 2007 - House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (TX-31) made the following statement as House Democrats continue to delay passing a clean alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch before the Thanksgiving holidays. Delaying this action will result in a massive delay in tax refunds for approximately 50 million American taxpayers.

“Today, Democrats passed a bill disguised as a tax relief bill that will never become law. The truth is this bill is just a small part-a down payment-of a larger tax bill which Charlie Rangel has called “The Mother of All Tax Bills.” This new approach to tax policy will raise taxes by $3.5 trillion for 94 million families earning between $20,000 and $200,000.

“This bill, coupled with last nights passage of a massive labor, health and education funding bill that is $11 billion over budget is the reality of the Democrats plan to raise taxes on middle-class American families. And what is worse is this bill has no chance of passing through the Senate let alone being signed into law by the President. American families expect Congress to pass an AMT patch that prevents them from being slammed with a tax they should never have to pay in the first place. Leave it to the Democrats to delay this important bill which will cause 50 million Americans to wait even longer to receive their hard-earned money.”

Note: The alternative minimum tax was established by Democrats in the 1960s to ensure a handful of millionaires paid federal taxes rather than using loopholes to pay a minimal amount. In 1993, Congressional Democrats raised the AMT tax rate from 24 percent to a dual rate structure of 26 and 28 percent and it was signed into law by President Clinton. But the Clinton AMT tax hike made the problem even worse because it failed to index inflation causing millions of middle-class families to be subject to the AMT. In 1999, a Republican Congress voted to permanently repeal the AMT and enact a small across-the-board spending cut. However, this repeal was vetoed by President Clinton

On October 23, Treasure Secretary Hank Paulson confirmed that continued delays in enacting an AMT patch could cause months-long delays of up to $75 billion in tax refunds for 50 million taxpayers.