Second Round of Tax Reform Might Address Retirement Accounts

TaxNotes reported today (subscription required) that lawmakers are considering a comprehensive rewrite of retirement taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. incentives as part of tax reform phase two, thought to begin this summer. According to the article, House Ways and Means CommitteeThe Committee on Ways and Means, more commonly referred to as the House Ways and Means Committee, is one of 29 U.S. House of Representative committees and is the chief tax-writing committee in the U.S. The House Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over all bills relating to taxes and other revenue generation, as well as spending programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance, among others. Chair Kevin Brady (R-TX) has said that some lawmakers intend to revise the tax treatment of retirement savings to make them bigger, more flexible, and easier to use. Rather than focus on small changes to limits or rules like those in the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2018, Congress ought to consider comprehensive solutions like universal savings accounts, which would simplify the structure of savings vehicles, and remove the tax code’s bias against saving.

In the United States, personal saving is taxed in a variety of ways, which often results in a bias against saving. The structure of retirement savings vehicles, however, limits this bias. In traditional-style, or tax-deferred, accounts, the initial savings are not subject to income tax and the returns are subject to tax when they are withdrawn. In Roth-style accounts, the initial savings are subject to income tax and the account grows tax-free. These plans provide an important source of retirement income, more than half of which flows to middle-class households with adjusted gross incomeFor individuals, gross income is the total pre-tax earnings from wages, tips, investments, interest, and other forms of income and is also referred to as “gross pay.” For businesses, gross income is total revenue minus cost of goods sold and is also known as “gross profit” or “gross margin.” under $100,000.

While it is good that the tax code provides a way for some savers to avoid multiple layers of taxes on their savings, it does so with a lot of complexity. For example, the Internal Revenue Service website lists 15 general types of retirement plans, and many of these plans have their own sets of rules on contribution limits, tax deductionA tax deduction is a provision that reduces taxable income. A standard deduction is a single deduction at a fixed amount. Itemized deductions are popular among higher-income taxpayers who often have significant deductible expenses, such as state and local taxes paid, mortgage interest, and charitable contributions. limits, and guidelines when savers can contribute and withdraw their funds. If individuals want to save more than these limits allow, or use their savings for purposes other than retirement, they face penalties that discriminate against saving.

We know that saving benefits the individual saver, and that it benefits the economy as a whole, too; the tax code shouldn’t create a barrier for how much, or for what purposes, people save. While the Senate and House lawmakers are discussing various policy ideas to encourage retirement saving and ease some restrictions, such efforts fall short of comprehensive reform. Congress should seriously consider ways to remove the tax penalties on all long-term saving by lifting or eliminating restrictions and reforming the structure of the various types of savings vehicles in the tax code. Traditional-style universal savings accounts are a good model to consider.

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