I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 782 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the alternative 

minimum tax on individuals and replace it with an alternative tax individuals may choose. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2009 

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin (for himself, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mrs. 

BACHMANN, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. 

LAMBORN, Mr. HERGER, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. FLAKE, Ms. FOXX, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, 

Mr. AKIN, Mrs. LUMMIS, and Mr. SHADEGG) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal 

the alternative minimum tax on individuals and replace 

it with an alternative tax individuals may choose. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayer Choice Act 

5 of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX FOR NON2 CORPORATE TAXPAYERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 55(a) of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986 (relating to alternative minimum tax 

5 imposed) is amended by adding at the end the following 

6 new flush sentence: 

7 ‘‘In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, no 

8 tax shall be imposed by this section for any taxable year 

9 beginning after December 31, 2008, and the tentative 

10 minimum tax of any taxpayer other than a corporation 

11 for any such taxable year shall be zero for purposes of 

12 this title.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

14 (1) Section 26(c) of such Code is amended by 

15 striking ‘‘the term ‘tentative minimum tax’ means 

16 the amount determined under section 55(b)(1)’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘the tentative minimum tax is zero.’’. 

18 (2) Section 911(f)(2) of such Code is amended 

19 to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(2) the tentative minimum tax under section 

21 55 for the taxable year shall be zero.’’. 

22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

24 December 31, 2008. 


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1 SEC. 3. SIMPLIFIED INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SYSTEM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of subchapter A of chapter 

3 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to tax 

4 on individuals) is amended by redesignating section 5 as 

5 section 6 and by inserting after section 4 the following 

6 new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 5. SIMPLIFIED INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SYSTEM. 

8 ‘‘(a) ELECTION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A taxpayer other than a 

10 corporation may elect in accordance with this sub11 section to be subject to the tax imposed by this sec12 tion in lieu of the tax imposed by section 1 for a tax13 able year and all subsequent taxable years. 

14 ‘‘(2) EFFECT OF ELECTION.—For purposes of 

15 this title, if an election is in effect under paragraph 

16 (1) for any taxable year, the tax imposed by this sec17 tion shall be treated as the tax imposed by section 

18 1 for the taxable year. 

19 ‘‘(3) ELECTION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro22 vided in clause (ii) of this subparagraph 

23 and clauses (ii) and (iii) of subparagraph 

24 (B), the election under paragraph (1) may 

25 only be made with respect to any taxable 

26 year beginning before January 1, 2019, on 


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1 a timely filed return for the first taxable 

2 year for which the election applies. 

3 ‘‘(ii) NEW TAXPAYERS.—In the case 

4 of an individual with no tax liability under 

5 this title before January 1, 2019, the elec6 tion under paragraph (1) may only be 

7 made for the first taxable year beginning 

8 after December 31, 2018, for which such 

9 individual has tax liability under this title. 

10 ‘‘(B) EFFECT OF ELECTION.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro12 vided in clauses (ii) and (iii), the election 

13 under paragraph (1), once made, shall be 

14 irrevocable. 

15 ‘‘(ii) ONE-TIME REVOCATION OF

16 ELECTION.—A taxpayer may revoke an 

17 election under paragraph (1) for a taxable 

18 year and all subsequent taxable years. The 

19 preceding sentence shall not apply if the 

20 taxpayer has made a revocation under such 

21 sentence for any prior taxable year. 

22 ‘‘(iii) FILING STATUS CHANGES DUE

23 TO MAJOR LIFE EVENTS.—In the case of 

24 any major life event described in clause 

25 (iv), a taxpayer may make an election 


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1 under paragraph (1) or revoke such an 

2 election under clause (ii). Any such election 

3 or revocation shall apply for the taxable 

4 year for which made and all subsequent 

5 taxable years until the taxpayer makes an 

6 election under the preceding sentence for 

7 any subsequent (and all succeeding) tax8 able year. 

9 ‘‘(iv) MAJOR LIFE EVENT.—For pur10 poses of clause (iii), a major life event de11 scribed in this clause is marriage, divorce, 

12 and death. 

13 ‘‘(b) TAX IMPOSED.— 

14 ‘‘(1) MARRIED INDIVIDUALS AND SURVIVING

15 SPOUSES.—In the case of a taxpayer for whom an 

16 election under subsection (a) is in effect and who is 

17 a married individual (as defined in section 7703) 

18 who makes a single return jointly with his spouse 

19 under section 6013 or a surviving spouse (as defined 

20 in section 2(a)), there is hereby imposed on the al21 ternative taxable income of such individual a tax de22 termined in accordance with the following table: 

‘‘If taxable income is: The tax is: 

Not over $100,000 ........................ 10% of alternative taxable income. 

Over $100,000 ............................... $10,000, plus 25% of the excess over 

$100,000. 


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1 ‘‘(2) UNMARRIED INDIVIDUALS (OTHER THAN

2 SURVIVING SPOUSES).—In the case of a taxpayer for 

3 whom an election under subsection (a) is in effect 

4 and who is not described in paragraph (1), there is 

5 hereby imposed on the alternative taxable income of 

6 such individual a tax determined in accordance with 

7 the following table: 

‘‘If taxable income is: The tax is: 

Not over $50,000 .......................... 10% of alternative taxable income. 

Over $50,000 ................................. $5,000, plus 25% of the excess over 

$50,000. 

8 ‘‘(c) MAXIMUM OF TAX ON NET CAPITAL GAIN OF

9 NONCORPORATE TAXPAYERS.—If a taxpayer has a net 

10 capital gain for the taxable year, the tax imposed by sub11 section (b) for such taxable year shall not exceed the sum 

12 of— 

13 ‘‘(1) the amount determined under subsection 

14 (b) computed at the rate and in the same manner 

15 as if this paragraph had not been enacted on modi16 fied taxable income reduced by the lesser of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the net capital gain, or 

18 ‘‘(B) the adjusted net capital gain, plus 

19 ‘‘(2) 5 percent (0 percent in the case of taxable 

20 years beginning after 2009) of so much of the ad21 justed net capital gain (or, if less, modified taxable 

22 income) as does not exceed an amount equal to the 

23 excess described in section 1(h)(1)(B), plus 


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1 ‘‘(3) 15 percent of the adjusted net capital gain 

2 (or, if less, modified taxable income) in excess of the 

3 amount on which tax is determined under paragraph 

4 (2). 

5 Terms used in this paragraph which are also used in sec6 tion 1(h) shall have the respective meanings given such 

7 terms by section 1(h) but computed with the adjustments 

8 under this section. 

9 ‘‘(d) ALTERNATIVE TAXABLE INCOME.—For pur10 poses of this section— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘alternative tax12 able income’ means— 

13 ‘‘(A) gross income, minus 

14 ‘‘(B) the sum of— 

15 ‘‘(i) the personal exemption, 

16 ‘‘(ii) the dependent allowance, plus 

17 ‘‘(iii) the alternative standard deduc18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(2) PERSONAL EXEMPTION.—The personal ex20 emption is— 

21 ‘‘(A) 200 percent of the dollar amount in 

22 effect under subparagraph (B) in the case of— 

23 ‘‘(i) a joint return, or 

24 ‘‘(ii) a surviving spouse (as defined in 

25 section 2(a)), and 


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1 ‘‘(B) $3,500 in the case of an individual— 

2 ‘‘(i) who is not married and is not a 

3 surviving spouse, or 

4 ‘‘(ii) who is a married individual filing 

5 a separate return. 

6 ‘‘(3) DEPENDENT ALLOWANCE.—The depend7 ent allowance is $3,500 for each dependent (as de8 fined in section 152). 

9 ‘‘(4) ALTERNATIVE STANDARD DEDUCTION.— 

10 The alternative standard deduction means— 

11 ‘‘(A) $25,000 in the case of— 

12 ‘‘(i) a joint return, or 

13 ‘‘(ii) a surviving spouse (as defined in 

14 section 2(a)), and 

15 ‘‘(B) $12,500 in the case of an indi16 vidual— 

17 ‘‘(i) who is not married and is not a 

18 surviving spouse, or 

19 ‘‘(ii) who is a married individual filing 

20 a separate return. 

21 ‘‘(e) INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 

23 year beginning in a calendar year after 2009, each 

24 of the dollar amounts for the rate brackets in sub25 section (b) and each of the dollar amounts in subVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:09 Jan 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H782.IH H782

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1 section (d)(2)(B), (d)(3), and (d)(4) shall be in2 creased by an amount equal to— 

3 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

4 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter5 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

6 year in which the taxable year begins, by sub7 stituting ‘calendar year 2008’ for ‘calendar year 

8 1992’ in subparagraph (B) thereof. 

9 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If any amount as adjusted 

10 under clause (i) is not a multiple of $100, such 

11 amount shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 

12 $100.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec14 tions for part I of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code 

15 is amended by striking the item relating to section 5 and 

16 inserting after the item relating to section 4 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 5. Simplified Individual Income Tax System. 

‘‘Sec. 6. Cross references relating to tax on individuals.’’. 

17 (c) CAPITAL GAINS AND DIVIDENDS RATE MADE

18 PERMANENT.—The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Rec19 onciliation Act of 2003 is amended by striking section 

20 303. 

21 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31, 2008. 

Æ 


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