White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders couldn’t say Thursday whether changes to retirement plans would be part of President Trump’s tax plan.
“The president is 100 percent committed to protecting people’s retirements, particularly those in the middle class, and making sure that their futures are preserved moving forward,” Mrs. Sanders said on Fox News.
When pushed on where the president stood on limiting contributions to 401(k) retirement funds, Mrs. Sanders reiterated the president’s commitment to protecting the middle class, but did not say what his position was on the issue.
“This is an alarming dodge from the White House on a simple question — is Donald Trump going to break his promise on 401(k) tax benefits that middle-class families count on for retirement savings or not?” Andrew Bates, deputy communications director at the liberal group American Bridge, said in a statement.
He added that the tax plan was drafted “behind closed doors” and would already be a burden to middle-class families without this possible deduction to retirement plans.
On Monday, Mr. Trump tweeted that 401(k) plans would not be touched calling the accounts “a great and popular middle class tax break,” but on Wednesday his opinion seemed to differ slightly, saying 401(k) contributions could be used as a “negotiating” tactic to pass tax reform.
Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady also said Wednesday that changes to 401(k) plans could still be on the table.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said, however, that any plan including such language would receive a veto. Mr. Mulvaney said that limiting the amount people can put into their plans is essentially “a huge tax increase” on working families, something the president has promised not to do.
“I can’t imagine that the House and Senate, controlled by the same party, would actually do something that would dramatically increase taxes on the middle class, but if they did we would certainly give serious thought to vetoing it,” Mr. Mulvaney said Wednesday at Georgetown University.
The 401(k) plan is a tax-deferred policy where people pay the taxes when they withdraw the funds rather than when they contribute.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.