His broad proposal calls for a repeal to the alternative minimum tax, known as the AMT, which was passed in 1969 to prevent a small amount of high-income earners from deducting their entire tax liability.Since the AMT was never attached to inflation, its burden is expected to creep up to affect 23 million taxpayers in the middle class when it was never intended to, McCain said.

An immediate repeal, as McCain directed, would save middle class families with children that are taxed by the AMT an average of $2,700.

“I worry about obviously any reduction in revenues but to have basically two tax codes in America is not an acceptable situation,” he said.

The AMT repeal is a centerpiece for work McCain called for to simplify the tax code that’s grown bigger and more complicated with each congressional bill.

“You paid $14 billion last year to pay someone to do your taxes and you had no idea - American families had no idea whether it was valid or legitimate in anyway,” McCain said.

To direct the tax code revisions, McCain said he’d appoint a commission headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to make recommendations for a reform for Congress to support.

“Have them report out and then Congress would vote up or down,” McCain said.

Saving Social Security and Medicare are also priorities, McCain said. Supporting personal accounts to supplement the social security crisis, McCain said he’d reach across the aisle to Democrats to make sure promised benefits are honored.

“Now are we going to fix it the way Ronald Reagan and Tip O’neil did back in 1983 or are we going to hand it off to an unluckier generation of Americans?” McCain asked.

Other incentives in the tax policy called for a permanent tax ban on the Internet and cellular phone communications while rewarding savings and investment with lower taxes on dividends and capital gains.

The Union Leader

I like this plan. Taxes on savings and investment should be kept low to continue to spur future investment and economic growth. Private accounts in Social Security are an absolute must. You can’t use a system created for 1930s America in 2007. We’re not the same country as we were then. AMT repeal is another must. It punishes people for success even more so than the general income tax structure. More tax cuts for the middle class are also needed. Ideally, while I’d love to see the income tax go the way of the dodo completely, in the very least I think it should be completely wiped away for middle class folks and below. Say, you don’t pay any tax on income until you hit like $80,000 or something, just as an example. Excellent idea to put Alan Greenspan on the panel!