The House bill would provide a $2,000 exemption only for those who do not itemize; itemizers would get a $1,500 exemption.
If you do not itemize, and do not have enough deductions to make itemizing worthwhile, you do not get Uncle Sam to share in your mortgage interest and property tax costs.
Still, taxpayers who do not itemize deductions generally will not owe any A.M.T., and itemizers who expect to be subject to the A.M.T. this year can take steps -- apart from a decision not to have any more children -- to minimize the bite.
This is because they do not itemize deductions on their federal income tax returns.
If they do not itemize their deductions, their tax on a joint return is $9,726.
The bill would also create a temporary property tax deduction for tax filers who currently do not itemize their deductions.
It would apply only to taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions, a provision that would exclude most mortgage-payers.
But most lower-income people do not itemize deductions on their tax returns, so they don't receive this benefit.
About 100 million taxpayers — those whose income is entirely from wages and retirement funds, and who do not itemize deductions — should not have to file returns.
Many lower-income homeowners do not itemize their tax returns, because they do not have enough deductions to make it worthwhile.
He also talked about his support for a tax credit to help homeowners who do not itemize their taxes and thus do not benefit from the mortgage deduction.
