[Newsday] Currently affecting only a few, mostly wealthy, taxpayers, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) will expand dramatically over the next several years, visiting high tax rates and mind-numbingly complex paperwork on unsuspecting middle-class families. Prompt action could reverse those effects, but it would be expensive and neither political party has summoned the nerve to shoulder the burden. Indeed, discussion of the AMT has been absent from the political debate. In fact, last year's tax cut made the problem much worse, as would many of the proposals currently on the table.