Sticking It To America
Steny Hoyer just made a rather shocking admission. The Democrats may not be able to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax, effectively sentencing 20 million American taxpayers to an average $2,000 fine of additional taxes. The fact that most of those who will get clobbered by this come from the bluest of blue states appears to be lost on the lunatics running the asylum.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted Tuesday that Congress may not be able to stop a big tax increase from hitting 23 million Americans.
Hoyer, pressed on whether Congress would resolve disputes over the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), said, “Maybe.”
His remark came as a surprise, since it has widely been assumed that Democrats will give up their effort to “pay for” the AMT patch and go with the Senate plan to load the cost onto the deficit.
Hoyer’s statement came the morning after nearly 30 conservative Blue Dog Democrats signaled their discontent with the Senate AMT plan by voting with Republicans against an adjournment resolution.
Hoyer was asked about efforts to resolve the dispute. He said he had come to the 11 a.m. briefing directly from the meeting to resolve the impasse and did not know the “state of play on AMT.”
“There’s no deal” with the Blue Dogs, he said.
An AMT patch must be passed soon to avoid a big tax hike. By waiting as long as they have, lawmakers have already raised the risk of a tax-filing mess that could provide fodder for political attacks. The IRS says it needs seven weeks from the time the president signs the AMT patch into law to update its forms and re-program its computers.
If they do not fix this, there are going to be a lot of very unhappy surprises for a lot of people. The fact that the impasse has resulted directly due to large contributions to the Senate Democrats will mean they will not have even a fig leaf to cover their failure. This is going to be a disaster for the Democrats in 2008.
Any wonder why America thinks Congress is useless? The conventional wisdom is that Democrats are going to do well in 2008. I think this disaster will make the election more of a "throw the bums out" election than anyone really expected up until now. Some of the most endangered will be those Blue Dogs - because all those fine principles will mean nothing to the taxpayer who has to shell out $2,000 due to Congressional Democrat's inability to manage a patch on the AMT. Those folks will be looking for a little payback.
If they do not fix this, there are going to be a lot of very unhappy surprises for a lot of people. The fact that the impasse has resulted directly due to large contributions to the Senate Democrats will mean they will not have even a fig leaf to cover their failure. This is going to be a disaster for the Democrats in 2008.
Any wonder why America thinks Congress is useless? The conventional wisdom is that Democrats are going to do well in 2008. I think this disaster will make the election more of a "throw the bums out" election than anyone really expected up until now. Some of the most endangered will be those Blue Dogs - because all those fine principles will mean nothing to the taxpayer who has to shell out $2,000 due to Congressional Democrat's inability to manage a patch on the AMT. Those folks will be looking for a little payback.
By bill-tb, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 1:57 pm
I think this is good, sorry if you get whacked, so do I. After people get their tax bills, then they will know who is the party of socialism and who is the party of freedom and liberty. It’s going to be a short trip down the memory lane for the Democrat/Socialists. AMT == Squeeze play.
The Republicans need to go back to the future and recall what got them the majority in 1994 and play part II. Bush seems to have at least figured out the budget part.
I do not think money is going to play as big of a part in the next election as Democrats seem to think. Democrats see TV and lots of money as their saviour, I don’t think that is true. TV audiences are diminishing, newspaper readers are dying off — The new media is coming into it’s own … Radio is a far more effective medium than TV, too many wanna-bees on TV in so-called anchor chairs.
By syn, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 2:35 pm
As one already familiar with AMT I think this is good news, Americans typically move towards fiscally conservative principles when their own personal checkbooks are affected; it’s easy to vote for federally-funded stem cell research when someone else picks up the tab.
I love the fact that many Americans have no idea that they’re about to be mugged by reality and next time they go into the voting booth they’ll think twice about supporting certain entitlement goodies which have been robbing many of us already paying the AMT blind.
By FedUp, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 2:36 pm
At this rate, I won’t be surprised to see Congressional (dis)Approval ratings hit single digits! Time to start calling/writing congress to voice displeasure over their total incompetence. Good thing they work for the govmint… they wouldn’t last long in the private sector!
By feeblemind, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 3:22 pm
High taxes. That is what the dems are all about, is it not?
By martian, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 3:27 pm
Unfortunately, I’m going to be pessimistic about this. I’m betting that the majority of voters won’t have a clue about the AMT. Worse, I’m really worried that the Dems will find a way to turn it around and blame it on the Republicans with the ready, willing, and able assistance of the MSM.
By LYNNDH, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Martian, you are so Right! The MSM will not report truthfuly and the Dems will not get hurt.
By Mwalimu Daudi, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Martian is right. The pure terror that overcomes the GOP when someone suggests criticizing the MSM and their Democrat pets is one of the most bizarre political phenomenons in American history. It’s like we already have a one-party state.
I’ll bet that if you walked into a meeting of all of the Republican members of Congress and said, “Let’s campaign in 2008 to Democrats accountable for their record,” half of the Members would soil themselves and the other half would drop dead of heart attacks. The MSM has the GOP well-trained.
I no longer have any faith in the Republican politicians of my generation. It will take another generation not wedded to earmarks and groveling before the MSM overlords to rescue the GOP.
By NortonPete, Tuesday, 18 December , 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Mwalimu , spot on. I can’t understand the lack of adaptation by Republicans to the changing role of the MSM in our society. Your point is well taken.