In 1969 the AMT was created to make sure that 155 individuals making $1,427,000 (in 2012) dollars paid something in taxes. Today the AMT taxes working people making as little as $75,000. According to the IRS's own taxpayer advocate 33% percent of taxpayers earning $75,000 to $100,000 will pay additional taxes due to the AMT and 44% earning $100,000 to $200,000 will pay more. This group was not the target congress intended to tax.
To make matters worse, regular employer tax withholdings often fall short and taxpayers have to then go out of pocket to pay. This is simply wrong and disproportionately affects those who are desperately trying to educate themselves and are working hard to get ahead. Either raise the threshold to $1,427,000 and index it going forward or eliminate it entirely.