Steven Miller’s Post

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CPA & Partner, Steven Miller & Co.

The politics of this issue are fairly obvious. While there are some very large IRAs, keep in mind these accounts don’t add up to much when looking at the government’s tax revenues, budget, or deficit. It's more about political noise. It shouldn’t be a surprise IRA values have increased substantially since 2011 since we've seen strong bull stock and bond markets.... and the government will get more than their fair share of the IRAs upon the death of the IRA owner as IRAs are not estate tax efficient. DEMOCRATIC TAX WRITERS TAKE AIM AT MEGA-IRA ACCOUNTS Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, have jointly released new data from the Joint Committee on Taxation which show a threefold increase in the number of taxpayers with aggregate IRA account balances of more than $5 million since 2011. (Joint Neal-Wyden press release, 7/28/21) The legislators cited a 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which the new data update. The GAO report, using 2011 tax data, found that nearly 8,000 taxpayers had aggregate IRA account balances of $5 million or more. "As of the 2019 tax year, nearly 25,000 taxpayers had aggregate IRA account balances of $5 million or more, and 497 taxpayers have aggregate IRA account balances of $25 million or more," the press release, citing the latest JCT data, stated. "The average aggregate account balance for these 497 taxpayers was more than $150 million," it added. "These data indicate that the exploitation of IRAs is a growing problem," said Neal. "The Ways and Means Committee is already looking at strategies to ensure that this retirement savings tool isn't misused as a tax shelter for folks at the very top," he said. "It is shocking, but not surprising, to see how they use of mega-IRA accounts by mega-millionaires and billionaires has exploded," Wyden said, adding that as efforts to increase the fairness of the Code continue, "closing these loopholes will be a top priority." From an article posted by Thomson Reuters #retirementplanning #iras #saveforretirement

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Marc R. Core

Marc R. Core, CPA, PC

2y

Reminds me of the same thinking by Congress people that brought us the alternative minimum tax in 1969 to get those evil rich people who paid no taxes. For the next 50 years the alternative minimum tax gradually wreaked havoc on the middle class. This misguided approach will also hit the middle class; it has to because that’s where the money is!

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Dave Ritzenthaler

Federal, State and International Tax Consultant

2y

Not surprising. More Tax & Spend for the government.

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Mike Beshara

Estate Planning Attorney at Law Office of Michael P. Beshara

2y

You’re right about IRAs not being estate tax efficient. Even if an accumulation trust is named as beneficiary, all taxes will need to be paid within 10 years of the account holder’s death in most cases.

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