Subject: unfair AMT tax Comment: Dear Advisory Panel Members, Date: 5/31/05 I’m writing to you regarding the insane Alternative Minimum Tax, (AMT) law that’s currently in-place. I’m asking that you please abolishing AMT altogether or to support a bill that would allow the AMT tax to be calculated on the value of the stock at the time of sale, (the real income). I owed 124% of my taxable income in Federal income tax for year 2000. I owed more AMT taxes due to the exercise of my ISO shares than the market value of the shares when I sold them. I couldn’t pay the AMT at the time. If I would have sold all my shares, my house, my car, all of my savings, all of my stocks, my IRA and my 401K, the proceeds from these sales would not be enough to cover my tax liability. I still own over $40K in back taxes due to penalty and interest. The truly depressing part of this sad story is that the Federal Government owes me over $150K in AMT credits. Of course I will not see any interest from the government and it’ll take me decades to recover these credits back under the current AMT tax laws. I don’t think this is fair! Why are certain Americans being punished? Because, we were perceived to be "rich" for a six month period of our lives? This is ludicrous! This will inevitably lead to bankruptcy for many Americans guilty of nothing more than exercising the promise of long-term investment in an employer they trusted. Not even the most diabolic communistic state could have come up with a worse tax system! I just can't understand this AMT tax law?!? This is so unfair! Income tax should be on INCOME! In the end I, (along with many other Americans) could have to declare bankruptcy if a tax relief bill isn’t passed into law. I hope that you would be able to help us with this situation, by abolishing the current AMT Tax Law, (hopefully retroactively to 1999). Please let me know what I can do to help you and what your thoughts on this matter are? I'm a law abiding, tax paying, Gulf War vet that thought I was living the American dream. I responsibly held my stocks. When the market crashed, I knew that I had to take the losses. What I didn't know is that I had to pay taxes of "phantom" gains. No American should have to pay taxes on income that was never income!!! Best regards, William R. Rinehardt 915 Princeton Lane Allen, TX 75002 Home Ph. 214-547-0297 bill_rinehardt@yahoo.com |