ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


IPO Videos 120 videos

Finance: What is a Lock Up Agreement?
3 Views

What's a lock-up agreement? We think it has something to do with a shiv, but let's watch this video, just in case.

Finance: What are Capital Markets?
7 Views

What are Capital Markets? The most often context used for “Capital Markets” is in corporate finance and investment banking, and it refers prima...

Finance: What are Overbought and oversold?
1 Views

What are overbought and oversold? Hit play to find out.

See All

Finance: What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? 2 Views


Share It!


Description:

What is the Alternative Minimum Tax? Alternative minimum tax is a different way of calculating tax liability. It’s only available to some individuals and companies though; eligibility depends on income and different exemptions that can be claimed. After factoring in deductions that the taxable entity is eligible for, the alternative minimum tax exemption is subtracted from income to determine the amount that will be taxed.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Finance a la shmoop. What is the alternative minimum tax or AMT? People

00:08

it's evil pure evil originally the alternative minimum tax affectionately [Guy wearing devil horns with flames in the background]

00:15

called alt min existed so that truly wealthy taxpayers had to at a minimum [Guy opens a letter from the IRS]

00:21

pay something think about the concept when you envision a Warren Buffett with

00:27

over sixty billion dollars in net worth paying a hundred grand a year in taxes

00:31

yeah that's what he does well the problem the altman tax system wasn't

00:35

indexed to inflation so lots of middle-class folks today now indexed to [Lots of people walking]

00:42

inflation are caught in the alt min trap this is the tax system that ended up

00:47

punishing the super duper wealthy you know people like in orthodontists

00:52

married to a substitute school teacher that's who alt min punishes yeah the tax [Tooth and drawing of a teacher appear]

00:56

man cometh for you well Congress gave birth to this tax in

01:00

nineteen sixty nine because well at the time a hundred fifty five tax payers had [Guy holding the alt min tax bill]

01:05

the temerity to pay no tax today about 5 million people pay alt min taxes which

01:11

has really become a parallel tax or incremental tax to the normal tax people

01:16

already pay the taxpayer figures out his tax completely ignoring alt min at first [Woman looking through papers]

01:21

then she figures out what she owes under alt min and if she owes more under alt

01:26

min well then she pays alt min if she owes more without alt min well then she [The tax bills are shown]

01:30

just ignores it in other words the IRS always wins the schmucks caught in alt

01:34

min lose all sorts of deductions state and local taxes business expenses and

01:39

childcare and it's pretty much the middle class of America today who bears

01:44

the most pain in this alt min situation people in high tax states bear much of [High tax states are highlighted]

01:48

the burden but well good for the IRS they were really hurting [Desk full of piles of tax checks]

Related Videos

Finance: What is a Dividend?
1777 Views

What's a dividend? At will, the board of directors can pay a dividend on common stock. Usually, that payout is some percentage less than 100 of ear...

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
39794 Views

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

Fake News
11938 Views

How do you tell fake news from real news?

Finance: What is Bankruptcy?
260 Views

What is bankruptcy? Deadbeats who can't pay their bills declare bankruptcy. Either they borrowed too much money, or the business fell apart. They t...

Finance: How Are Risks and Rewards Related?
589 Views

How are risk and reward related? Take more risk, expect more reward. A lottery ticket might be worth a billion dollars, but if the odds are one in...