Bruce Braley’s Radical Tax Plan Hits Seniors Where it Hurts Most – Retirement

Good Morning,

This week, Bruce Braley has been touting a plan that economic experts say would hurt any Iowa family that has a retirement fund or a pension invested in the market. Even Obama’s Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has opposed this radical tax. Bruce Braley just doesn’t get it – more of his excessive government spending, burdensome regulations and tax increases are a blueprint for how to destroy jobs and hurt middle-class families retirement savings.

• A Leading Economist From The Clinton Administration Says Braley’s Tax Would Hit Any Iowan With An Retirement Account; Investors Could Easily Lose More Than $100 Billion. “[A]ny securities transaction tax imposed on trading will ultimately be borne largely by investors, including so-called “Main Street” investors in mutual funds and individual retirement accounts, notwithstanding claims to the contrary by tax proponents. Potential losses to investors should easily top $100 billion. Third, while Wall Street institutions certainly contributed to the financial crisis, their trading activities or those of many non-Wall Street firms had nothing to do with the crisis. Imposing a transaction tax to “punish” Wall Street will hit the wrong targets. If Congress deems it appropriate to use the tax code to induce longer-term holdings of financial instruments and/or less borrowing, there are much more direct ways to do it. Finally, claims that a securities transaction tax would raise $150 billion annually in revenue are vastly overstated, because they take no account of the impact of the tax on investor behavior, asset prices, and offsetting declines in capital gains tax revenues.” (Robert Litan, “Hitting The Wrong Target: Why A “Wall Street” Transaction Tax Will Hit Main Street Investors And Miss The Mark on Other Fronts,” April 21, 2010)
• Braley’s Tax Would Impact More Than Half Of All Americans Who Are Investors In The Stock Market. “A generation ago, only about one in five Americans owned stock and most people saw Wall Street from the outside looking in. Today more than half of all Americans are investors, and what happens on Wall Street ripples through millions of U.S. homes and businesses. Wall Street is no longer the preserve of the wealthy, but the primary means for Americans to save for retirement, purchase a new home, send their children to college or finance a new business. In turn, investors provide capital so businesses can invest in new products and entrepreneurs can turn ideas into new jobs.” (Duncan Niederauer commentary, “The Tainted Transaction Tax,” Forbes, March 24, 2010)

NRCC COMMENT: “Iowa middle-class families have worked their whole lives to save for their retirement, it’s unacceptable that Bruce Braley wants to pay for his job-destroying spending sprees by taxing their hard earned savings. Braley might think these ideas sound good to his Washington friends but it’s time for him to stop putting Nancy Pelosi before Iowa families.” – NRCC Spokeswoman Andrea Bozek