401(k) Plans Are Back on the Chopping Block

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ABC News reports that 401(k) retirement plans are on the chopping block after all:

The White House, as the president tweeted, wanted to keep the current annual maximum for tax-free contributions ($18,000); House Republicans wanted to lower the limit to $2,400. The bill, as of this morning, would lower what individuals may contribute tax-free to their 401(k)s, to an amount about halfway between the current limit and what House Republicans initially proposed.

If the new maximum is indeed halfway between, it comes to $10,200. So if you contribute, say, 5 percent of your salary, it means the cap will start to hit you at an annual salary of about $200,000 instead of $400,000.

In other words, this will make no difference to about 97 percent of us. So I guess I can’t get too worked up about it. The only thing that makes it bad is the same thing that makes the entire Republican tax bill bad: this is being done solely to pay for a tax cut that will go overwhelmingly to the very rich. In today’s GOP, even the moderately rich aren’t safe from having their taxes raised in order to pay for tax cuts to the folks making even more than them.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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