The bill, which will protect 23 million middle class taxpaying Americans nationwide for one year from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), provides important economic relief while also being fiscally sound – the cost of helping middle class taxpayers will be borne by changing the tax treatment of “carried interest” for hedge fund and other investment fund managers who are now paying a lower tax rate than most individual taxpayers.

“The Democrats in Congress are fighting for tax relief for middle class Americans, paid for by adjusting the tax rate for some of the richest Americans in our country,” said Miller. “Today’s vote is an important step for the middle class that has been feeling a financial squeeze for some time now. If the president does not agree to this bill, millions of average Americans like teachers and firefighters will fall under the Alternative Minimum Tax for this year and be forced to pay thousands of dollars in increased taxes that was never intended to be charged to them.”

The AMT was put into place to ensure that the wealthiest individuals did not escape paying taxes altogether through shelters and other means. In 2005, 7,537 households in Miller’s congressional district paid the AMT. This tax year, 58,558 households would be forced to pay it – a 677 percent increase – if Congress does not adopt this temporary fix. The passage of this bill would mean that 51,021 middle class households in Miller's congressional district would be spared the crushing burden of the Alternative Minimum Tax, and provides an estimated $50 billion in AMT relief nationwide.

Miller’s proposal to require Congress to operate on a “pay-as-you-go” budgeting system is now the law, an effort intended to protect future generations from spiraling debt. The Temporary Tax Relief Act approved today adheres to that standard.

“The Democratic bill will help thousands of middle class Americans in my district, who the AMT was never meant to impact, in a fiscally responsible way,” Miller said. “The burden of this relief will not fall on the middle class but rather on a narrow group of the privileged few who have been using loopholes and special-interest tax breaks to get away with paying less than their fair share in taxes for far too long,” said Miller.

In addition to the AMT relief, this bill will also aid the middle class by providing 30 million homeowners with $1.2 billion in property tax relief and extending tax credits for teachers, college tuition, children, health care and more.

Here’s what the House bill approved today would do: