The House Ways and Means Committee approved on June 18 a bill introduced the previous day by Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) that would extend the patch on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) this year. The bill, the Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 (H.R. 6275), would ensure "that the number of taxpayers subject to the AMT will not increase," according to a committee release. The committee approved the bill by a vote of 22-16; a Committee spokesperson said the bill is expected to reach the house floor over the "next few weeks."
The committee release says the bill "provides one-year relief from the AMT without adding to the deficit by closing loopholes in the tax code, encouraging tax compliance, and repealing excessive government subsidies given to oil companies."
Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana), unveiled June 10 a substitute amendment to H.R. 6049, The Renewable Energy and Jobs Creation Act of 2008, that would extend alternative energy tax credits and a similar patch on the AMT. The Committee says the Baucus-led bill extends tax incentives that expired at the end of 2007 or are set to expire at the end of 2008. The bill "encourages the production and use of wind and solar energy, biofuels, and carbon sequestration technologies, and includes provisions to improve transportation and domestic fuel security, and energy and conservation efficiency," the committee said in a release.
