WASHINGTON   –  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today joined U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulison in urging a swift solution to the looming Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).  Originally designed to ensure millionaires pay their fair share of income taxes, the AMT now threatens millions of middle-class taxpayers.

“This is an easy problem to solve, but it is important Congress acts soon.  The proposal is on the table – even if we solve the AMT problem for just one year – but inaction is threatening the entire tax return process,” Emerson said.  “This is an issue of tax fairness, not just for the million of Americans we have worked to shield from this tax in the past, but for every American who deserves a timely refund check from the IRS next year.”

If the rule preventing the expansion of the AMT is not written prior to November 16th, all Internal Revenue Service forms will have to be reprinted for the 2008 tax season. 

Without a new regulation to stop the AMT from creeping into 21 million new middle-class tax returns by November 16th, there could be up to a ten week delay in the refunds of 50 million taxpayers.