Just before Christmas, Congress passed a “patch” to the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would have snared as many as 23 million additional taxpayers.

“Patch” means they did not fix it, they just put a temporary bandage on it - effecting only the 2007 tax year.

Congress’ tardiness in dealing with this important issue will delay the IRS processing of millions of tax returns because they’ll need 10 weeks to reprogram all of their computers.