dont you think most people will cash them out if they think that is what is coming down the pike?
The way I see it is this...
Cash out today and you’ll pay about 40% in taxes and penalties. When the Gov’t shows up in a year or two they won’t need all that much...40% wouldn’t be right, in fact that would be wrong. I think they’ll only want about 15% - 20%, say the amount you would have paid had it been taxed and you paid cap gains on the increases. That should keep the sheeple from revolting. And I’m sure they’ll promise that after that ‘one-time donation’ the rest of your retirement money will be tax exempt upon retirement to make up for it...only they’ll change the law in about five years to make sure it’s all taxable income upon retirement.
Where else are they going to get a stack of $1,000 bills 1,000 miles high? I seem to recall that there is around $15T - $16T in all retirement accounts in the US.