Punish California

The President's tax reform panel has released its recommendations for "revenue-neutral" tax reform (see the CNN story), which eliminates the AMT on the backs of residents of "blue" states. Instead of revamping the AMT so that the wealthy continue to pay their fair share of taxes without unduly burdening the middle class, the proposal eliminates it, and restricts the mortgage interest deduction and eliminates the deduction for state and local taxes to make up for the lost revenue. This will mostly effect coastal states where inflated housing prices require large mortgages and where the state and local tax rates are higher than the rest of the country. In essence, residents of these states are to be punished for voting Kerry in 2004. We'll see if the democrats in congress are willing to show a little backbone and stand up to this nonsense.