Alternative minimum tax exemption, 2008
Congress finally came through with year-end legislation to shorten the reach of the alternative minimum tax for another year.  The measure temporarily increased the AMT exemption for joint-filing married couples to $66,250 and for single taxpayers to $44,350. Finding a longer-term solution, such as indexing the exemptions (don’t look for the AMT to completely go away soon), will be one of the challenges for Congress in 2008.  However, in a presidential and congressional election year, that task will be even tougher than it was in 2007, so another short-term fix may be the best we can hope for until a new administration can take a crack at it. 

Several other key tax provisions are expiring in 2008, creating more uncertainty for taxpayers. Keep your eye out for action this year on these items.  Short-term, fear of a recession is prompting a rare consensus on the need for an economic stimulus plan that is very likely to include an income tax rebate check for many Americans.
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John Hodges, Choice Finance®  |  Quick tax facts for investors