With dreams of filibusters dancing through their heads, there are very few things Democratic and Republican Senators can agree on lately. American taxpayers better hope they can make nice quick though, because Senate action is needed now to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

By 2010, some 31 million taxpayers could end up paying more out of their pockets to Uncle Sam because of this thirty-six year old provision in the tax code that has never been modified to account for inflation. It is also expected at that time that 85% of all married couples with two or more children will pay the AMT because it does not allow exemptions for dependents.

How times have changed. In 1969, when the AMT was passed, it was in response to a political firestorm generated by reports that 155 Americans making 200,000 or more did not pay any taxes at all. This inequity created more constituent mail than the Vietnam War.

If you've never heard of the AMT, that's because very few Americans currently have to pay it. But hold on to your wallets, because it may be coming to your neighborhood soon.

Senators are starting to realize that they will be facing a middle-class backlash at the polls if they don't do something about the AMT soon.

The AMT was originally designed to snare filthy rich taxpayers who were using tax deductions and loopholes to avoid paying any taxes at all. But with the erosion of the value of the dollar because of inflation, the ‘wealthy,’ as defined by the AMT, is beginning to include more and more people of lesser means.

The Senate Finance Committee is considering legislation to repeal the tax. The trouble is the measure would reduce revenues, leading to more than a half-a-trillion increase in the national debt over the next decade.

Congress needs to drastically reduce our deficits. The answer is not to junk the entire AMT. That would unfairly benefit the super-rich at the expense of everyone else. The AMT needs to be drastically reformed so it doesn’t affect the middle class. However, Congress will have to figure out how to pay for it through spending cuts or by revisiting some of the tax cuts passed in previous years.

Fixing the AMT without bankrupting the Federal Treasury will be difficult. These challenges will grow as the number affected rises and the amount of revenue the AMT brings in increases. In 2010, this tax time bomb will detonate. Thirty million Americans will be impacted. Congress has to act now to fix the AMT without breaking the bank.