kinda blows cause my non retirement $ is taxed and was gained during the “accuulation” phase and because of good stratgies is still acumulating...this market thing and housing crunch hasnt made any dif to me.
If you think this blows you had better hope that Hucksterbee or any of the other "Fair" Taxer's doesn't ascend the thrown. For if they do you will suffer the inequity you describe above on steroids.
Imagine, you paid taxes on your income all the way through your accumulation phase just to have them switch to a tax on your consumption right in time for your retirement. I suspect this double fleecing of the baby boomers (which is where the money is) is what is driving the sudden epiphany in Washington that the current income tax system may be broken. But take heart, the crooks in DC are way too vested in selling favors in the tax code to make any significant change.
I have even worse news, but in the interest of brevity I will put it in a separate post.
I suspect the crooks in DC will ultimately "Save Social Security" by extending the FICA tax to pension payments and IRA withdrawals (Roth and Traditional).
They will then claim that "every dime of your promised SS has been paid." And after all they only claimed that Roth IRA withdrawals would be free of income taxes. They never said anything about them being exempt from an extension of the FICA tax.
If this sounds like the tyrants in Washington would be giving you a SS check with one hand and taking it away through the tax code with the other. Just remember they only promised to give you a Social Security check. They never said anything about letting you keep it.