401k Tax Breaks Face Scrutiny

[Honest Abe]

Yikes.. didn't even consider that these could be in play for the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.. Never take anything for granted I guess...

http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/retirement-savings-tax-breaks-face-scrutiny-84643.html?hp=l10

[The_Dude]

Scary.

I didn't see a single mention of taxing contributions to benefit plans.  Everyone in a benefit plan receives a compensation benefit in the form of the pension the accrues at a year basis.  If they tax retirement savings those should be taxed too.

[TheDude]

Man that could suck. We use the 401K, simple IRA, IRA, HSA, FSA, Depdent FSA, and Pension plans to reduce our liability. If they reduced or eliminated any of those it would really increase are taxes.

On the other hand they should probably just eliminate all deductions. The tax code should just raise funds for the government. It shouldn't try to encourage people or penalize people.

Sorry sometimes my libertarian side comes out. Although its limited after all i want simplified but I still want it to be progressive.

[chicagomeg]

Yet another reason we need to transition to a national consumption tax instead of an income tax.