Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has announced legislation that would make existing tax breaks permanent for working families and individuals.
The measures would make permanent the 2009 exemption levels for the alternative minimum tax and index them for inflation, while permanently allowing personal credits against the AMT.
It would make permanent the 10, 25, and 28 percent individual tax rates (the 15 percent tax rate is already permanent), and make permanent the reduced threshold of $3,000 for the refundable portion of the child tax credit. The proposal would also make permanent the 2009 estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax laws and index the exemption amount.
“Today we’re offering a piece of certainty during an uncertain time for millions of hardworking, honest Americans,” said Baucus. “These measures are not excessive or outrageous, but timely and targeted, and will build on earlier efforts to stabilize the economy,” he said.
Original co-sponsors of the Baucus legislation include Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
