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Garance Franke-Ruta should have done more fact-checking and less sneering in her article on the Mercatus Center at George Mason University (“Bull Market,” 3/8). For example, she claims that I have “been working to reform the alternative minimum tax, an initiative widely supported by large corporations.” As I explained when she called me, and as she could have verified by checking my report on our committee Web site, there are two types of alternative minimum tax: one for individuals, the other for corporations. I wrote only about the alternative minimum tax for individuals, which under current law is projected to affect 35 million taxpayers by 2010. It is understandable that a nonspecialist reporter might not know the difference between the two types of tax at the start, but she should either know better by the time the article goes to print or omit mention of it.
Senior Economist
Joint Economic Committee
U.S. Congress