The U.S. Senate has voted against proceeding to a House bill that would provide a major tax benefit for trial lawyers and an unprecedented tax earmark for New York City, while failing to address the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). If not changed, the AMT will force millions of hard working middle-class families to pay higher taxes this year. Senator Collins voted against consideration of the bill and released this statement:
“This legislation sets the wrong priorities. Despite the slow economy and the strains on our federal budget, it includes an unprecedented tax earmark for New York City to the tune of $1.1 billion. Not only is this bad tax policy, it is costly to the American taxpayer and could open the door to similar maneuvers in the future. The bill also provides $1.6 billion in tax deductions to benefit wealthy trial lawyers.
“Congress must rectify the AMT. Unless the AMT is fixed by Congress, it will sweep 25 million working middle-income families under its purview – including 85,000 Maine families -- forcing them to pay higher taxes. Yet, this bill does nothing to address the AMT problem and will result in an even greater financial burden to millions of middle-class families trying to make ends meet during these challenging economic times.
“We need to extend expiring tax provisions like the Research and Development tax credit and the teachers’ tax deduction, which I authored, but we cannot ignore the consequences of the AMT on middle income families.”