[lmack]

Originally Posted by spinner1001

Never heard of him. I had to look up who he was. He’s an author and media personality. So he’s definitely someone who can predict what Congress will do over the next decade.

Doing away with IRAs and 401ks will literally take an act of Congress. That’s something that will certainly be popular and get politicians reelected.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Saw that this morning. Govt has been casting an eye on those funds for years thinking of ways to spend it.

How can government spend it? They are in private broker, insurance and bank accounts. People need to wise up. These are basically tax deferrals and a lot of the savers are paying more in taxes since they now make more than when they were working,

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Do people actually listen to this guy????

Never heard of hm and did read the article. 1% chance that this will occur,

[GoRedSox!]

I usually like Clark Howard, but I disagree with him on this.

As a matter of public policy, lawmakers know that Social Security alone will not be enough income in retirement for most people. Without tax deferred retirement plans, many many more people will not invest in their own futures.

They will reduce the age for RMD’s or tighten up income limits for full deductibility before they do this.

Some folks also use HSA’s as retirement vehicles.

We need more savings for retirement, not less.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

How can government spend it? They are in private broker, insurance and bank accounts. People need to wise up. These are basically tax deferrals and a lot of the savers are paying more in taxes since they now make more than when they were working,

They can spend it by getting their hands on it earlier. Not saying they will be reduce the age for RMD or amount you can put in 401 or IRA.

The current deficits we are running on not sustainable.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Yet, they recently raised the required minimum distribution (RMD) age, delaying the collection of millions of dollars in taxes.

Because people are living longer. No one can say that is a BAD THING!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Fishing to find ways to raise more revenue to pay the interest on all that debt. Feel bad for the younger generations, no easy way out.

The way, WAY bigger problem is the millions of unwanted aliens entering from the southern (and other) border. With A.I. and robotics improving those people will jack up the unemployment to as much as 30%

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by spinner1001

Never heard of him. I had to look up who he was. He’s an author and media personality. So he’s definitely someone who can predict what Congress will do over the next decade.

Doing away with IRAs and 401ks will literally take an act of Congress. That’s something that will certainly be popular and get politicians reelected.

Why would it be " POPULAR" to eliminate methods of SAVING money for the FUTURE?????

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

Because people are living longer. No one can say that is a BAD THING!

It's not a bad thing for retirees, but it is a bad thing for the Government because it reduces revenue to a country that is $34 trillion in debt.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

How can government spend it? They are in private broker, insurance and bank accounts. People need to wise up. These are basically tax deferrals and a lot of the savers are paying more in taxes since they now make more than when they were working,

Theoretically, a person that makes a lot of money pays more taxes (income taxes). I have always said that I want to pay as much taxes as possible. That just means that you are successful. The government (both state and federal) NEED MONEY. Individuals DEPEND on government to provide an army and police and etc. How they COLLECT taxes is completely arbitrary. They make up rules and then they can change the COLLECTION rules. But, as an individual, you can't repel a Russian invasion by yourself!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

It's not a bad thing for retirees, but it is a bad thing for the Government because it reduces revenue to a country that is $34 trillion in debt.

National debt numbers are totally meaningless !!!!!!The number appears scary today because interest rates are high. And I could collect all the money in a heartbeat just by making the rich class like Musk and etc pay their fair share. In the 1960 part of the reason there was a solid middle class was that the upper classes paid more taxes. They slowly change it to suit themselves and we were like a frog in hot water, we did not complain because it happened slowly.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

National debt numbers are totally meaningless !!!!!!The number appears scary today because interest rates are high. And I could collect all the money in a heartbeat just by making the rich class like Musk and etc pay their fair share. In the 1960 part of the reason there was a solid middle class was that the upper classes paid more taxes. They slowly change it to suit themselves and we were like a frog in hot water, we did not complain because it happened slowly.

Lets have the rich pay their fair share whatever that might be. The money they would invest and supply jobs now goes to the govt which has no clue how to do the same thing efficiently.

[Maker]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Lets have the rich pay their fair share whatever that might be.

If every "rich" person like Musk was taxed at 100%, and all their assets were seized, it would barely make a dent in the national debt. There isn't enough of them to make a difference. It sounds great, but in reality it is a stupid concept to believe in. Politics 101.

"Make the big corporations pay their fair share" really means to raise taxes on all of us. Those taxes will get passed down as higher prices to everyone that buys their products.

Raising taxes has the effect of reducing how much money people have to spend on goods and services. That directly hurts the economy. As businesses sell less, their profits go down. Then, to stay profitable, they raise prices and lay off workers. That's another hit to the economy; less people buying things. And the cycle repeats.

Raising taxes is not the solution. A balanced budget is the first step. Live within your means. Grow the economy and tax revenue will go up. Use that to pay down the national debt. Stop spending double the amount of money coming in.

[spinner1001]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

National debt numbers are totally meaningless !!!!!!The number appears scary today because interest rates are high. And I could collect all the money in a heartbeat just by making the rich class like Musk and etc pay their fair share.

The national debt is now $35 Trillion. The entire USA GDP for 2023 was $27 Trillion. For 2022 (latest data available), IRS collected $3 Trillion of all individual, estate, and trust taxes. Please tell us how to collect $35 Trillion (that’s trillion, not billion) more in taxes in a heartbeat. You did say heartbeat, right?

Math is hard.

By the way, your Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that you probably saw on MSNBC has been largely discredited by mainstream economists.

Understanding the National Debt | U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data

Access Denied

SOI Tax Stats - IRS Data Book | Internal Revenue Service

Breaking down a popular economic theory for some 2020 candidates

[huge-pigeons]

Fair share? The rich pay most of the taxes now! Do you think the poor pay the most? The poor consume the most.
Be careful on who you call the rich. Look at the link below and the top 1% incomes aren’t that much or a lot lower than you think, a lot of us in TV make this in the stock market each year while playing softball.

We should have a flat tax that everybody pays, no adjustment if you’re poor or if you are rich.
And who determines who is poor and who is rich? According to stats, something like 70% of people in the country can’t afford to pay for a $1000 expense. Look at the stats for retirees, 70-80% have something like a few hundred thousand saved for retirement, which is sad. I know people throughout their careers making good money but spent most of it every month and now they have nothing for retirement.
We should not condemn those that worked hard, saved, maybe worked multiple jobs to save for retirement and then tax them unfavorably to pay for somebody that didn’t save or didn’t work much.

What the Richest 1% Pay in Taxes in Your State