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Alternative Minimum Tax

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioTax Reform’s Challenges and Opportunities

Friday, December 05, 2008
8:45 AM to 4:30 PM
Washington, DC

Tax Reform’s Challenges and OpportunitiesA new administration presents an ideal opportunity to reshape the nation’s tax code. Improving the equity, simplicity and efficiency of the tax system will help to better prepare taxpayers, businesses and the economy for the challenges that lay ahead. Brookings, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and Tax Analysts co-hosted a forum to explore timely policy recommendations for the incoming president and his transition team. Read More

The Presidential Transition, Taxes, Tax Reform, Alternative Minimum Tax, The Presidency

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioMemo to the President: Fix the Tax System

William G. Gale and Benjamin Harris, December 05, 2008, The Brookings Institution

Memo to the President: Fix the Tax SystemA new administration presents an ideal opportunity to reshape the nation’s tax code. Improving the equity, simplicity and efficiency of the tax system will help to better prepare taxpayers, businesses and the economy for the challenges that lay ahead. Read More

Taxes, Fiscal Policy, U.S. Economic Stimulus, Health Care, Energy Security

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioThe Scouting Report: Fix the Tax System

Wednesday, December 03, 2008
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

The Scouting Report: Fix the Tax SystemThe U.S. tax code is too complex, often supports misguided incentives, and raises inadequate revenue to support government spending. William Gale, vice president and director of Economic Studies, answered questions in a live web chat with Politico's Jeanne Cummings, chief lobbying and influence writer, about strengthening and improving our nation’s tax code. Read More

The Presidential Transition, Taxes, Tax Reform, Alternative Minimum Tax, The Presidency

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Tax System: Too Complex, Unfair and Outdated

William G. Gale, May 15, 2008, The Sacramento Bee

The Tax System: Too Complex, Unfair and OutdatedStimulus checks are a bright note in this year’s tax season. But, William Gale asserts, the annual tax-filing ritual is otherwise complicated and outdated. He recommends that the presidential candidates advocate changes like streamlining tax incentives and allowing some taxpayers to pay without filing returns. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, Retirement, Tax Reform, Political Conventions

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioOpportunity 08: Better Direction on Main Street

Monday, December 03, 2007
10:15 AM to 12:00 PM
Washington, DC

Reuters/Fred Prouser - Main Street in Park City, Utah.From the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) to an unstable mortgage market, many middle-class American families are at risk of losing their footing in today’s economy. Saving rates are at an all-time low and rising health premiums can render basic care unaffordable to even full-time workers. Opportunity 08 explores what the next President can and should do to promote individuals’ economic success and a sound middle class. Read More

Economic Mobility, Alternative Minimum Tax, Mortgage Market, Housing, Health Care

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My Portfolio2016: Too Long to Wait for Tax Reform

Jason Furman, November 07, 2007, The Brookings Institution

Simplifying a complex and inequitable tax system can take years, history has shown. Jason Furman urges prompt action now that the new Ways and Means tax reform proposal offers a solid starting point. Read More

Alternative Minimum Tax, Taxes, Tax Reform

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioFixing the Tax System: Support Fairer, Simpler, and More Adequate Taxation

William G. Gale, February 28, 2007, Opportunity 08

Fixing the Tax System: Support Fairer, Simpler, and More Adequate TaxationA good tax system raises the revenues needed to finance government spending in a manner that is as simple, equitable, stable, and conducive to economic growth as possible. But the challenge for the next President will be to make reform work not just in the abstract, but in the real world, where special interests often rule the roost. The next President should support reforms that would tax all income once (only) at the full tax rate, simplify and streamline the tax code, and, of course, raise sufficient revenues. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy, Tax Reform, U.S. Department of the Treasury

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioOptions to Fix the Alternative Minimum Tax

William G. Gale, January 19, 2007, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering that taxpayers could pursue and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed far from those original goals. Under current law, the tax will affect over 23 million taxpayers in 2007—many of them solidly middle-class—and mainly for reasons that have little or nothing to do with what most people would consider tax sheltering. Read More

Alternative Minimum Tax, Taxes, U.S. Economy

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioThe Tax Reform Panel Report: "Blueprint for Change?"

Thursday, November 03, 2005
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center hosted a presentation and discussion on the findings of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, assessed their potential impact on American taxpayers and the chance of success in Congress. Participants included William Frenzel and Charles O. Rossotti, senior members of the panel. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy, Tax Reform

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioTax Reform Options in the Real World

William G. Gale, October 01, 2005, Toward Fundamental Tax Reform

The basic description of a desirable tax system is broadly accepted: It should raise the revenues needed to finance government spending in a manner that is as simple, equitable, stable, and conducive to economic growth as possible. Although people agree that the current system clearly falls short of at least some of these goals, it is not easy to point to examples around the world that work much better. In addition, how the system should be reformed is subject to enormous controversy. People define the underlying goals differently—notions of fairness, for example, are clearly "in the eyes of the beholder." People disagree on the most effective policies for attaining a particular goal, such as more economic growth. And most importantly, people have differing value judgments, which make agreement on policy almost impossible in the nearly ubiquitous case where there are tradeoffs among the goals. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy, Federal Budget, Tax Cuts

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Cost of Tax Cuts

Peter R. Orszag and William G. Gale, September 19, 2004, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Article by William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag, Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/19/04) Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, Fiscal Policy, U.S. Economy, Federal Budget

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioOverdrawn Account

Peter R. Orszag and William G. Gale, February 04, 2004, The New Republic

William Gale and Peter Orszag examine the president's 2004 budet proposal, his tax cut proposals, and offer their own suggestions for balancing the budget over time. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy, Tax Cuts

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioThe Federal Budget Outlook

Peter R. Orszag, February 03, 2004, House Committee on the Budget

Testimony by Peter R. Orszag (2/3/04) Read More

Federal Budget, Budget Deficit, Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioKey Points on the Alternative Minimum Tax

Jeffrey Rohaly, Leonard E. Burman, Matthew Hall and William G. Gale, January 21, 2004, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

Opinion by Leonard E. Burman, William G. Gale, Jeffrey Rohaly, and Matthew Hall, Tax Policy Center (1/21/04) Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, Federal Budget, U.S. Economy, Tax Cuts

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioKey Points on Making the Bush Tax Cuts Permanent

Matthew Hall, Peter R. Orszag and William G. Gale, January 21, 2004, The Brookings Institution

William Gale and co-authors examine the effects of making President Bush's tax cuts permanent. Read More

Taxes, Alternative Minimum Tax, U.S. Economy, Federal Budget, Tax Cuts

In Brief

The Alternative Minimum Tax, in force since 1970, was originally designed to prevent high-income households from using loopholes to avoid paying taxes. But the tax was not indexed for inflation, and today many upper-and middle-class families are affected.

Featured Experts

William G. Gale

William G. Gale

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy

Bill Gale, the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy in the Economic Studies Program at Brookings, is an expert on tax policy, fiscal issues, pensions, and saving behavior. He is also co-director of the Tax Policy Center and director of the Retirement Security Project.
Read More

William Antholis

William J. Antholis

Managing Director, The Brookings Institution

William Antholis is managing director of the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow in Governance Studies. He also directs the Brookings Mountain West Initiative with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Antholis has worked on foreign security and economic policy at the National Security Council and the State Department, and was director of studies at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Read More

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