Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 - Extensions of Remarks

Floor Speech

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2008 - Extensions of Remarks

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the AMT Relief Act of 2008 and urge my colleagues to do the same.

While I would prefer to eliminate the AMT entirely--and pay for it when we do--the fact of the matter is that failing to act on this legislation would subject over twenty-five million families--including nearly 335,000 in my congressional district--to an additional tax burden they were never intended to bear. Moreover, having recently visited with IRS Commissioner Shulman, there is no question that the IRS is better able to do its job and the taxpayers are best served when Congress completes its tax-related work in a timely fashion.

I am especially pleased that H.R. 7005 also includes legislation I introduced on a bipartisan basis with Congressmen RICHARD NEAL (D-MA), SAM JOHNSON (R-TX) and JIM RAMSTAD (R-MN) to correct the equally unintended and all too frequently devastating treatment of incentive stock options under the Alternative Minimum tax. The AMT Credit Fairness and Relief Act will end the ISO AMT crisis once and for all by allowing affected taxpayers to claim the entirety of their unused credits over the next two years and abating all penalties and interest arising from this particularly egregious part of the code.

Madam Speaker, the AMT Relief Act of 2008 is vital middle class tax relief designed to correct several widely acknowledged defects in our tax law. I look forward to its passage and encourage its prompt consideration in the Senate so that it can be signed by the President without delay.

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