Technology Workers Sound Off against Alternative Minimum Tax.

Byline: Mark Schwanhausser

Jun. 19--SAN JOSE, Calif.--High-tech employees who triggered huge tax bills by exercising stock options rallied and railed in downtown San Jose on Monday, seeking relief from arcane tax rules that have drained savings and forced some into bankruptcy.

Stories -- and sometimes tears -- flowed at U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren's "town hall meeting" at San Jose City Hall. But in short supply was a clear sense of how, when -- and whether -- Congress and the Internal Revenue Service might fix the problem.

"How many victims do you need before you say it's horrible?" asked Kathy Swartz, a Mountain View woman, six months pregnant and soon to sell her "dream house" because she and her husband, Karl, owe $2.4 million in alternative minimum tax.

U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, invited because he's a member of tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, listened for an hour as speaker after speaker …