Senate Finance Committee: What to do (with Taxes) in 2006?

As the Senate Finance Committee returns to action, the priorities in 2006 appear to mirror those of the prior year: reconciliation and extension of expiring provisions, addressing the impact of the AMT on upper middle income (and in some cases, middle income) taxpayers and whether more substantial tax reform should occur. General consensus (with some opponents) appears to favor an AMT "patch" to reduce the impact of this tax on upper middle income taxpayers, while the dividend and capital gain tax rate reduction extensions continue to be controversial.