Skip to content

ATR: Dems’ Retirement Mandate Burdens Small Businesses & Undermines Bipartisan Efforts

September 09, 2021

The inclusion of the bipartisan Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 (SECURE 2.0) in Democrats’ $3.5 trillion tax hike and spending package is a bait-and-switch, Americans for Tax Reform says.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Democrats’ partisan approach will cost $47 billion over ten years.

SECURE 2.0, introduced by Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), passed as a bipartisan bill through the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year.

Yet, the version included in Dems’ $3.5 trillion tax and spending spree “undermines the spirit of bipartisanship,” ATR says, because the automatic enrollment provision burdens small businesses with requirements and doesn’t look like the original bipartisan bill.

From ATR:

“As part of the $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend plan, Democrats have proposed a provision which would require companies to automatically enroll workers into retirements plans like IRAs or 401(k)s.  

[…] 

“In turn, all businesses must offer a retirement plan and then must comply with these specific requirements that create administrative costs. If a company does not comply, they’ll be charged a tax of $10 per employee per day.   

[…] 

“To be clear, the ‘inclusion’ of the SECURE Act 2.0 in the reconciliation package is not reflective of the bipartisan, fiscally-responsible, business-friendly version of the original bill, which advanced out of Committee unanimously on a bipartisan basis.  

“In fact, changing this bill so dramatically and including it in the reconciliation undermines the spirit of bipartisanship.”

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • SECURE 2.0 was highly praised for helping Americans save for retirement and making it easier for small businesses to adopt work-place retirement savings plans.
  • Democrats have changed up the bill – despite it passing the Ways and Means Committee with bipartisan support – to fit their $3.5 trillion socialist agenda and dangerous expansion of the welfare state.
  • Democrats’ retirement mandate is another attack on Main Street – as they move to slash the 20 percent small business deduction that created more than $66 billion in savings for small business owners in 2019.
  • President Biden’s 33 percent tax hike would hit small businesses too. Nearly 1.5 million small businesses that employ more than 12.5 million Americans will be hit by Democrats’ crippling tax hikes.

READ: Brady Blasts $3.5 Trillion Tax Hike & Spending Package in Hearing Opener

READ: Democrat Tax Hikes Hit Millions of American Small Businesses, Kill Jobs, Slash American Wages