Fool Me Once, Shame on You...

A question. When George W. Bush said:

[Although we are adding the value of health insurance contributions by employers to the income subject to personal income and payroll taxes, we are adjusting things so that] amilies with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on [the first] $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on [the first] $7,500 of their income...

Did he mean, "But the Alternative Minimum Tax will still apply to all income reported on your W-2, plus the value of health insurance contributions made by your employer, with no adjustment for this new health deduction"?

Comments

[Tom Bozzo]

Good question. Berman, Furman, and Williams are under the impression that the deduction will be in the adjustments to income above the AGI line, which implies (but doesn't prove) that the deduction won't be taken away by AMT. However, any additional "income" above the deduction presumably would affect somebody's AMT status.