Albert B. Crenshaw:

The AMT, as it is widely known, was created to catch up with the clever rich. Now, though, it has little impact on those folks and instead is whacking millions of fairly ordinary Americans. In fact, according to the Treasury Department, next year a typical family with two children will have to pay the AMT if its income exceeds $67,890. And by 2015, as many as 50 million taxpayers will have to pay it.
The AMT has, however, been very, very good to the Treasury. It is pulling in $18 billion in tax revenue this year, and by 2015 the AMT could be pouring $210 billion annually into the government’s coffers. Washington insiders for some time now have been laughing that it would be cheaper for the government to repeal the regular income tax and keep the AMT.
This may be funny, but it’s not a joke. The crossover point, when the AMT begins to produce more revenue than the regular tax, is now projected to be 2013.

Meanwhile, our Senators Kohl & Feingold recently voted for a massive big business tax giveaway on overseas earnings.