Rangel's AMT Plan Would Hit Middle Class

When asked about different revenue forecasts and baselines from different government agencies for the outcome of this bill, Rangel’s Republican counterpart Ranking Member Rep. Jim McCrery (La.) said he was operating from a “reality baseline.”

“If a taxpayer who earns the same amount of money this year as last year has to write a bigger check to the Internal Revenue Service, that’s a tax hike,” he said in a press event to drum up opposition to Rangel’s plan.

Republican Ways and Means committee member Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.) said incredulously, “When I look at what the Democrats are doing with Charlie’s MATH I ask myself ‘are they out of their minds?’ It’s almost as if Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi were under this [Capitol] dome oblivious to what’s going on in the world around us.” He cited concerns about the weakening American dollar, increased gasoline and heating costs and the subprime mortgage collapse. “And yet, the Democrats want to sit here and embark on this insane attempt to raise $3 trillion in taxes!”

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, president of the anti-tax advocacy group FreedomWorks, said both sides of the aisle were probably engaging in “dueling disinformation” in a phone interview.

“Republicans want to hang Charlie’s tax plan around every Democratic candidate’s neck,” Armey said. “They are going to make this story as grim as possible”

But, Armey said revenue forecasts from the Joint Tax Committee were “the best information we’re going to get” since tax policy is under their jurisdiction.