The House may vote today on a plan to "fix" the alternative minimum tax [1] and make up the $50 billion in lost revenue by increasing taxes on "carried interest." President Bush has threatened to veto this [2], and Congress is finding out how tough it can be to stick to "paygo" [3] -- the principle that any tax cuts or spending increases have to be offset somewhere else in the budget. There's a huge [4] debate [5] over the implications of the carried interest tax [6]. But the more important point is that paygo is absolutely critical [7] if we're going to get the nation's finances under control. And an AMT fix that does not offset the costs will bode very badly for the nation's future.