Congress Passes Annual Fix To Alternative Minimum Tax

From The Wall Street Journal:

Year-end legislation to protect millions of middle-class taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax cleared Congress but not before Democrats had to give up their hope of covering the cost with offsetting tax increases or loophole closings.

Congress has approved annual fixes to the AMT since 2001 even as costs have grown to near $50 billion with an estimated 23 million taxpayers now affected. Democrats had hoped to break with past practice and find an AMT patch that didn't add to the deficit. But Senate Republicans proved too strong, and as resistance collapsed, the House voted 352-64 to again approve a fix with no offsetting rise in taxes.