Tax bill 'dead on arrival,' says McCrery

Legislation approved by the House Ways and Means Committee that would protect 21 million taxpayers from having to pay the alternative minimum tax “will not become law,” according to Ways and Means ranking member Jim McCrery, R-La. That’s because the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus, D-Mont. today came out against the bill’s tax hike on private equity managers. Mr. Baucus said that a tax increase on so-called `carried interest’ can’t pass the Senate, in a statement released this morning. The bill, approved by Ways and Means, which is opposed by Republicans, would also extend a one-year “patch” for the AMT, for which millions of middle-income taxpayers are now liable, because it was never indexed for inflation when it was originally enacted in 1969. The AMT was originally intended to ensure that wealthy taxpayers were not able to use what were considered loopholes to escape paying income taxes. “Chairman Baucus’ comments clearly indicate that such a bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Mr. McCrery said.