Archive: Michael Wicklein
Introduction The U.S. Treasury estimates that the tax preference for employer-sponsored retirement plans and IRAs reduced federal income taxes by about $185-$189 billion in 2020, equal to about 0.9 percent of gross domestic product. Other estimates of the costs are even larger. However, the best evidence suggests that the federal tax preferences do little to…
Investing some of the Social Security trust fund’s assets in equities has obvious appeal. Equity investment has higher expected returns relative to safer assets, so Social Security might need less in tax increases or benefit cuts to achieve long-term solvency. On the other hand, equity investments involve greater risk and raise concerns about interference in…