Soooo…does anyone else here think that retirement accounts (especially the Roth), which have very well documented custodian agreements, i.e. all transactions are reported to the IRS — would represent an convenient logistical opportunity to tax upon disbursement?
Yes, you paid taxes upon converting to the Roth…on the promise (cross my heart!) that the government would NOT tax it again upon disbursement. Decades from now. Under a different administration. And a different Congress. That’s about like expecting, I dunno, Social Security to pay for me 30 years from now?
I’m considering that there are substantial voting demographics who are not incentivized to contribute (high tax bracket, pension-plan workers) who might be swayed by a demogogue railing against the “tax haven” that Roths represent.
After all, I got taxed when I earned my income…and then taxed again when I spend it (on most things)…there’s certainly precedent for tax-favored treatments to change over time (cc and student interest used to be tax deductible). I mitigated this taxation risk by not keeping all my retirement funds in a Roth, but some as a “regular” IRA or 401k, and some to not put in at all.
My overall point is that in this investing environment, an enormous hidden risk is not knowing what regulatory, taxation and judicial (think of whether or not courts will uphold the right of MERS to foreclose — what does that mean for the value of holding a mortgage-backed security in one’s portfolio if it’s not liquid?) responses are likely to be for any given form of investment. And those can easily wipe out any comparative advantage of any particular class of asset.
