https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/reti...IAx?li=BBnbfcL
The Biden administration and House Democrats are working to pass the largest social spending and tax increase bill in our nation's history. Buried deep within the bill's 2,135 pages are provisions that would do long-term damage to individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s, and our retirement savings system.
These provisions would have a major impact on how millions of people plan their retirement savings. Yet these far-reaching changes were added to the bill in secret, without any congressional hearings or public comment. Neither the Treasury Department nor the Congressional Budget Office has said a word about them. Although supposedly targeting just the wealthy, these new rules could apply to millions of households, including 37 million with traditional IRAs, 26 million with Roth IRAs, and 60 million 401(k) participants. They might be aimed at the rich, but millions of middle-class savers worry that Congress will come after them next.
For the first time, Congress would be changing the retirement savings rules in the middle of the game. Democrats would be banning long-established savings practices people have relied on for years to plan their retirement. These provisions would cap the total amount a person can save with tax benefits, force some people to reduce their savings, and prohibit many savers from using the common practice of converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.
Some of these changes would go into effect at the end of this year, just a few short weeks away. Also, the bill would impose new IRS information reporting requirements for all accounts over $2.5 million, even for tax-free accounts.
These proposed changes would do long-term damage to our retirement savings system. If enacted, they would break the promise that Congress has made to retirement savers that it would not change the rules retroactively and tax their IRAs. And these changes would send a clear message that retirement savings are not safe from a future Congress that needs more tax revenue to pay for evermore spending.
From Portman-Cardin to Bentsen-Roth, every single retirement savings change since IRAs were first established 47 years ago has been passed with broad bipartisan support. If changes are needed, let's consider them on a bipartisan basis. But these IRA changes are a terrible mistake, and Congress should reject them outright.
Bruce Thompson was a U.S. Senate aide, assistant secretary of the Treasury Department for legislative affairs, and the director of government relations for Merrill Lynch for 22 years.
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Buck fiden
From my cold ded hands!
House tax bill would do long-term damage to IRAs and retirement savings
