"The AMT is spreading its tentacles far down the income chain."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that the AMT hits us hard in Wisconsin.

UPDATE: And here's an op-ed in the NYT making the point I noted yesterday, that tax software makes people far less aware of the AMT and therefore much more likely to tolerate it. From the op-ed:

In a world without paid preparers and TurboTax, taxpayers would face the tedious process of calculating their taxes twice - once under the regular income tax and once using the cumbersome alternative minimum tax rules. But software does that calculation in the blink of an eye - and for taxpayers who have to pay the tax, tell them how to adjust their withholding so that next year they won't even notice that they're paying it.

Too true!

ANOTHER UPDATE: How hard did the AMT hit me? More than $6,000!