FreedomWorks Applauds Senator Jim DeMint’s Introduction of Taxpayer Choice Act

Senator Jim DeMint took the fight for tax reform to the Senate floor today by introducing
the Taxpayers Choice Act (TCA). This bill is the Senate companion to legislation introduced in the House by Representatives by Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Paul Ryan (R-WI), John Campbell (R-CA), and Michele Bachmann (R-MN).

The Taxpayer Choice Act would permanently end the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and give taxpayers the opportunity to opt into a simplified tax system. The Taxpayer Choice Act places fiscal conservatives back on the policy offensive. Opponents of the TCA will have to explain why they support the current complex and indecipherable code that is twisted with carve outs and giveaways to special interests, instead of a simple and transparent code that respects the taxpayer.

Under the Taxpayer Choice Act, citizens could choose between the current 60,000 page code or a simplified version with only a 10 percent and a 25 percent bracket.

The Taxpayer Choice Act solves the looming AMT crisis by permanently ending the AMT tax, and saving taxpayers the major headache of calculating their taxes under both the existing tax code and the AMT. Originally designed to only tax 155 targeted wealthy taxpayers, the AMT, if not stopped, will capture 30 million families this year that the tax code defines as rich, or 70 percent of households earning above $75,000.

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented:

Senator DeMint is demonstrating true leadership on tax issues and permanently providing taxpayers relief from the AMT. We have a broken tax system that can only be understood with the aid of expensive accountants, lawyers, and lobbyists. We live in an era in which technology empowers the individual and breaks down the need for middle men. Senator DeMint’s Taxpayer Choice Act would eliminate the need for expensive tax preparation consultants and software, and the need for taxpayers to waste valuable evening and weekends itemizing and deducting. Good policy makes good politics, and this is certainly a good policy.