Free Republic

Wall Street pushed back hard on Friday against a report that congressional Republicans are weighing a plan to severely limit the amount of money Americans can contribute to their 401(k)s. The Capitol Hill lawmakers, searching for ways to pay for President TrumpÂ’s broad proposed tax cuts, are eyeing a $2,400 cap on pre-tax contributions to 401(k) plans, used by millions of US workers to save for retirement. Currently, the pre-tax limit for such contributions is $18,000 a year. Contributions to 401(k)s are tax-deferred, which means that the government wonÂ’t be able to get its cut until retirees start withdrawing money...

Proposals floating around Washington to cap the amount that Americans can contribute before taxes to 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts are unsettling professionals in the retirement industry. Republicans are looking for ways to generate revenue to support broad reductions in individual tax rates. One idea is to limit the amount of pretax money households can sock away for retirement saving. Such a move would likely generate significant political blowback but it hasn’t been explicitly ruled out, stirring worry among industry lobbyists.

Proposals floating around Washington to cap the amount that Americans can contribute before taxes to 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts are unsettling professionals in the retirement industry. Republicans are looking for ways to generate revenue to support broad reductions in individual tax rates. One idea is to limit the amount of pretax money households can sock away for retirement saving. Such a move would likely generate significant political blowback but it hasn’t been explicitly ruled out, stirring worry among industry lobbyists.

How many times have you read financial-advice stories lecturing you to max-out on your IRA, save as much as you can in your 401(k), and even pay taxes now to change your regular IRA into a Roth IRA that will be tax-free until you die? Well, be careful how much you save. That's the message in President Obama's budget for fiscal 2014, which for the first time proposes to cap the amount Americans can save in these tax-sheltered investment vehicles. The White House explanation is that some people have accumulated "substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of...