On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Charles Rangel (D-NY) said the committee, which has jurisdiction over taxation, was planning to vote on three tax bills before the end of the year, including a tax extenders packages and a possible second stimulus plan. Any bill to extend expiring tax provisions would include negotiations on how to extend provisions for Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemptions, which are complicated due to the requirement to find offsets necessitated by pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules.
In anticipation of the opportunity to further erode the reach of the AMT in the tax-exempt bond market, several groups sent a letter to tax writers and congressional leaders urging them to permanently exempt future private activity bonds from the AMT and to allow the refinancing of past issues to take advantage of the proposed AMT exemption. The letter was sent to Chairman Rangel, signed by the Airports Council International-North America, Education Finance Council, and the American Association of Port Authorities. Another letter went to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus.