Dive Brief:
- The White House’s tax proposal preserves retirement plans, to the relief of many employers and major business groups, Employee Benefit News (EBN) reports.
- Under the proposal, most tax breaks would be eliminated except for retirement savings, home ownership and charitable giving, says EBN. Gary Cohn, economic adviser to Pres. Donald Trump, claims the tax-break eliminations are aimed at high-income earners.
- The proposal also includes an alternative savings option called a Universal Savings Account, which allows plan participants to withdraw funds at any time for any reason without penalty.
Dive Insight:
Employees, especially millennials, get it – they’re learning the value of saving more money for their post-work years. If the Trump tax proposal hadn’t chosen to preserve 401ks and other retirement savings incentives, employee gains in savings could have been eroded.
Retirement experts described the revenues retirement plans add to the government’s coffers and the GDP overall. Insured Retirement Income CEO Cathy Weatherford told EBN that American workers’ retirement savings are too heavily invested in the markets for the Trump team not to protect them.
A number of bipartisan bills are going through Congress right now regarding retirement plan options, including one on lifetime income reports, that aim to help employees better understand their retirement programs.