The Alternative Minimum Tax is a tax that was designed to ensure all citizens pay at least a minimum amount of tax. The Alternative Minimum Tax sets a minimum tax rate of either 26% or 28% on some taxpayers so that they cannot use excess credits and deductions to completely eliminate their tax liability. The AMT was introduced through the Tax Reform Act of 1969 and became active in 1970. The Alternative Minimum Tax has come under scrutiny recently because it is not indexed by inflation, therefore an increasing amount of middle-income taxpayers have recently been subject to this tax which was only intended to target very high income individuals.