Why the Senate Brought Back This Hated Tax
Republican lawmakers in the Senate successfully voted in favor of tax reform, with a 51-49 tally seeing the defection of just a single member of the party. Yet for those who were familiar with the plan planks that the Senate originally had in its tax-reform bill, the reality of what got passed on Dec. 1 reflected both the typical legislative process as well as the fiscal pressures on lawmakers to balance tax breaks with keeping the resulting deficits under control.
One surprising move that the Senate made to ensure passage was to restore the alternative minimum tax. The House version of tax reform had sought to eliminate the AMT entirely, and the Senate's last-minute move to bring back this much-hated tax could make many lawmakers on the other side of Capitol Hill unhappy.
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Source: Fool.com
