Escaping the Tax Trap

You might not live the life of the rich and famous, but when Uncle Sam taxes you, he might treat you as though you do.

The alternative minimum tax, designed more than three decades ago to catch the cagiest of rich tax evaders who used clever deductions to eliminate their income tax, is becoming the feared tax of the middle class. Typically, people with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000 are most vulnerable to the AMT, but sometimes people with moderate incomes get nabbed - especially single parents with several dependents and deductions, salespeople with a lot of unreimbursed business expenses or investors with certain bonds.More...