Obama Wants Americans' Hard-Earned Retirement Savings

Greed: Last year Washington raked in $1.16 trillion in individual income tax revenue and expects to squeeze $1.36 trillion out of taxpayers in 2013. But President Obama wants more — and he's coming after your retirement. Obama's budget proposes lowering the amount Americans can put away in retirement accounts without a tax penalty. Retirement contributions are made in pre-tax dollars, which lowers your taxable income. Capping the contributions increases taxable income, raising the tax burden. It also cuts into the dollars available for retirement.

The president's proposal limits accounts to $3 million in accumulated savings, enough to fund an annual retirement annuity of $205,000 a year. Under current law, workers under 50 can place $5,500 in their IRAs each year in pre-tax dollars. Those 50 and over can contribute $6,500 in 2013.

Contributions to 401(k) plans are capped at $17,500. The money is taxed when it's taken out during retirement. Obama's plan won't raise much revenue — just $9 billion over 10 years. It's simply more of the Obama fairness campaign. The White House made this clear when it said last week that under current law "some wealthy individuals" can amass "substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving.

"Think about that statement for a moment, for it reveals a corrupt mind-set. The administration is saying that America has a government that believes it has the moral authority to decide just what a "reasonable" level of retirement savings is. That's an alarming statement. Of course the White House and its allies will pitch the plan as a reasonable means to bring down deficits. How, they will ask, can anyone object to having the rich "contribute" a little more to the solution? But the political left is never honest about the policies it sells to the public. Small tax hikes become hefty ones. A bit of regulation grows into a grinding regulatory regime.

Limited help for the poor produces a welfare state. Environmental laws, supposedly to clean up our air and water, actually wrest control of the economy from the private sector. Background checks and registration are the precursors for firearm confiscation. ObamaCare is the forerunner of a single-payer system. Democrats are always poking a camel's nose under the tent with the full intention of pushing the beast all the way in as soon as possible. Given that, don't be surprised if Obama's retirement account idea leads to even more revenue than the $9 billion it's supposed to raise. If it becomes law, Democrats will take the next step, putting a stranglehold on the trillions Americans now hold in their retirement accounts. Already Obama's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray said the agency wants to "help" Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they've put away for their retirements, and is "exploring ... in terms of whether and what authority we have."Three years ago on these pages former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and policy analyst Peter Ferrara warned that "Washington is developing plans for your retirement savings.""The idea," they said, "is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.

"They will tell you that you are 'investing' your money. ... But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds."And then there's the Annual Report of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class released in February 2010 that, according to Connie Hair of Human Events, posed the idea of seizing "private 401(k) plans for government disbursement."Government envy of retirement accounts isn't unique to the current White House.

The Washington Post reported 20 years ago the Clinton administration was pondering an "unprecedented effort by the federal government to deal with its budget woes by turning to the more than $4 trillion in cash, stocks and other investments held by pension funds."It's unlikely Obama will be able to tap into Americans' retirements this year or next. But the Democrats will keep trying. It's just too tempting.

Source: Investor's Business Posted Daily: Posted 04/11/2013

 http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/041113-651601-washington-wants-to-change-way-americans-retire.htm#ixzz2QFGWcxxl 

Comments:

We are quickly becoming the United Socialist States of Amerika.  If we lose control of our assets, we lose our assets including savings for retirement and property.  States are sovereign entities that can reverse this trend, but States have been ineffective and uninvolved.  This needs to change.  States need to challenge every unconstitutional move the federal government makes.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader