Tax reform is not likely to happen until 2017, but some changes to protect the tax advantages of retirement savings could come sooner, Robert L. Reynolds, CEO of Great-West Financial and Putnam Investments, said Tuesday at the SPARK Institute conference in Washington.
“One bit of good news,” he said, is that a growing number of Washington policymakers are open to changing budget accounting rules that count retirement-related tax deferrals as lost tax revenue, rather than simply deferred taxes that are paid later. Those rules, which count, or “score,” tax beaks on a 10-year basis only, make retirement tax deductions attractive sources of revenue during congressional budget debates.
“What we are asking for is honest arithmetic,” said Mr. Reynolds. He told reporters after his speech that officials at the Treasury Department are “working on it to show the present value” of such deductions.
