as a way to get the rich and don't index them to inflation? The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is a case in point. From this source, the AMT was passed in 1969 because 155 people with an adjusted gross income over $200,000 paid no federal income tax in 1967. The Minimum Income Tax was passed in 1969 and amended to create the AMT in 1978 to make sure that wouldn't be the case. Unfortunately, they never indexed the thresholds where the AMT kicks in and they kept raising the marginal rates, so now the tax that was targeted at a handful of rich people is hitting over 600,000 taxpayers today.

The same thing is happening to those other phase outs in the tax code. They might not apply to most people today, but each year, they'll bite more and more people who are a long way from being 'rich.'