Would the Securing a Strong Retirement Act Secure More Retirement Equity?

Abstract

On March 29, 2022 the House approved H.R. 2954 that is titled the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 (the SECURE Act 2.0) by a vote of 414-5.

On May 26, 2022, a discussion draft of the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg (RISE & SHINE) Act of 2022 was released by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Ranking Member Senator Richard Burr (R-NC).

The article argues that despite providing tax incentives in excess of more than $70 billion, the bills in concert would intensify rather than diminish retirement benefit disparities, while leaving tens of millions of American families and workers with insufficient savings to retire comfortably. The article analyzes those bills’ provisions and describes:

• those bills’ provisions that would secure more retirement equity and how to improve those provisions,

• those bills’ provisions that would secure less retirement equity, and

• provisions that would secure more retirement equity, if added to the bills would secure more retirement equity.

Keywords: Retirement, income, pensions, equity, savings, tax incentives, tax expenditures, SECURE Act, tax policy, minimum required distributions, required minimum distributions, defined contribution plans, 401(k) plans, IRAs, Roth IRA, participant, beneficiary, income tax, tax deferral, estate planning, tax

JEL Classification: H24, I18, I31, J26, J32, J33, K34, K39