According to Business Watch (Springfield Leader) the Internal Revenue service may delay the start of the 2007 filing season. Normally the season begins around the 14th of January but if Congress fails to pass tax-reform legislation in the next two weeks the beginning filing date may be pushed back.
At issue is how to handle a dramatic increase in the number of people facing a higher alternative minimum tax. The alternative minimum tax was passed in 1969 to prevent 155 of America’s wealthiest families from avoiding paying any tax at all. However, it has not been adjusted since it was established and as a result has hit a growing number of middle-income taxpayers.
The tax itself disallows certain deductions and credits thus preventing the wealthy from cheating the system of thousands of dollars in revenue. If the delay is imposed, however, and it extends into February it would slow nearly 32 million refunds worth a total of about 587 billion. Since this only affects wealthy Amercans I would call for those with incomes over a certain amount to be delayed while allowing the majority of us to file our returns on time. One must, however, realize that this is probably just another ploy by the Bush Administration to find additional revenue for his war on the world.
