House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., intends to introduce legislation next month that would keep a variety of tax breaks from expiring before the end of the year.
Instead of sending the bill through his committee, Rangel plans to dispatch the bill directly to the floor of the House, according to
The AMT patch probably wont be one of the expiring provisions included in the legislation Rangel will introduce, but the Recovery Act already included the patch for this year. Congress will be able to patch up the AMT once again next year to keep it from spreading to millions more taxpayers.
One of the most hotly anticipated questions is the estate tax. Currently the first $3.5 million of a persons estate is exempted from the tax, and then the estate is taxed at up to 45 percent for estates valued at $7 million or more. Next year, the tax will temporarily go away, only to return with a vengeance in 2011, when it tops out at 55 percent on estates valued at over $1 million. The legislation may include a permanent estate tax provision, but thats far from a done deal at this point.