Posted: May 15, 2005 By: Phil Bush

Subject: AMT - Who does it hurt?

Comment: My story is pretty simple. Ignorance of what happened when I exercised Stock Options was a killer. As a result, I had to take a loan out for around $45,000 to pay. I never realized that making money was such a "bad" thing in this country. AMT may have been a good idea at one time, but it no longer is hitting the right people. The ones who make millions have people to advise them on the situation. People like me, who exercised options, tried to hold them in most cases, and then watched the "Perfect Storm" of a stock market collapse go around them found themselves with no equity to pay off huge tax bills. Is this what the AMT law was meant to do. Either redo the law so it gets the Multi-millionaires and not people like myself, or do away with it completely. It will creep up and bite most Americans anyway, no matter what we do!