David Cay Johnston:

Over the next 10 years, Americans will not receive nearly $750 billion in tax cuts sponsored by President Bush because the cuts will be offset by the alternative minimum tax, a new report by Congressional tax specialists shows. The report, prepared by the staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, said that from 2006 to 2015, Americans would pay as much as $1.1 trillion more under the alternative minimum tax, partly as a result of the Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts reduced the bill for millions of taxpayers to a level that will subject them to the alternative minimum tax instead of the standard tax rate. As a result, the report said, their tax savings would be reduced by a total of $739.2 billion over the 10 years. Congress has passed a modest adjustment to the alternative minimum tax to allow more taxpayers to take advantage of the Bush tax cuts, but that expires at the year-end. Even if it is extended, the report said, the alternative minimum tax would take away $628.5 million in tax savings, with $416.5 billion of that attributable to the Bush tax cuts over the 10 years. George K. Yin, the joint committee’s chief of staff, wrote that the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 account for just under two-thirds of the increase in collections under the alternative tax. The report was prepared in response to a request from John Buckley, chief tax lawyer for Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. Families with children who own their homes will be hit hardest by the increased alternative tax.