Tax Reform ATR believes that all consumed income should be taxed one time, at one low and flat rate. Link
GET INVOLVED
ATR ON TWITTER
FOLLOW US-
ATR Urges North Carolina Legislators to Reject Anti-Free Enterprise Protectionism http://t.co/RIg4ejSB
May 22, 2012 10:17 AM
taxreformer -
ATR Releases 2012 List of State Taxpayer Protection Pledge Signers for May 22 Primaries http://t.co/maSodrTt
May 21, 2012 01:18 PM
taxreformer -
Senate Should Reject Importation of Foreign Price Controls on Rx Medicines http://t.co/ogZvZ0Yq
May 21, 2012 12:05 PM
taxreformer -
ATR Urges Illinois GOP Leaders to Stick to their Word on Tax Hikes http://t.co/XrCYJId0
May 21, 2012 10:17 AM
taxreformer -
In a @fxnopinion op-ed, @GroverNorquist urges Congress to bypass Obama and approve the Keystone pipeline http://t.co/43heBQhh ^
May 21, 2012 10:15 AM
ChrisPrandoni -
Blog: ATR urges Illinois GOP Leadership to stick to their word on tax hikes - http://t.co/FenLjInR #atr ^
May 21, 2012 10:12 AM
joshuaculling -
The Post Mortem on Maryland’s Special Tax Hike Session http://t.co/6nFjgjfF
May 18, 2012 04:18 PM
taxreformer -
What Tax Hikes Does Beth Anne Rankin (@BethAnneRankin) Support? http://t.co/dBs5DuV2 #AR04
May 18, 2012 03:23 PM
taxreformer -
What Tax Hikes Does Beth Anne Rankin Support? http://t.co/92cfRfYF
May 18, 2012 03:03 PM
taxreformer -
CoGC: Nanny State Update: Smoke Free Smoking Lounges, Ducking the Truth, Bag Bans and Soda Taxes http://t.co/Nqj3G8c7
May 18, 2012 02:32 PM
taxreformer
Email
PrintRelated Items
- Even with skyrocketing gasoline prices, Dems introduce bill to raise energy producers’ taxes
- CAP Guides American People to Field of Democrat Straw Men
- ATR will Keyvote against cloture on S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011
- Silicon Valley Becomes Rent Seeking Valley Under Obama
Share This Article
Related Articles
- Even with skyrocketing gasoline prices, Dems introduce bill to raise energy producers’ taxes
- CAP Guides American People to Field of Democrat Straw Men
- ATR will Keyvote against cloture on S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011
- Silicon Valley Becomes Rent Seeking Valley Under Obama
Cap and Tax Bad for
Government Employee Pensions
Reports indicate that some in Congress are prepared to offer versions of a "cap and tax" scheme next week. This new tax would be assessed on all fossil fuel-derived energy source in America. Because people (not businesses) pay taxes, this will be passed along to consumers and shareholders.
When you hear "shareholders," you might just be thinking of those with stock in taxable brokerage accounts, or even your IRA or 401(k) account. But there's a whole other group of people who will also be hurt by this bill--government employees with defined benefit pension plans.
According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, there are 2,654 defined benefit pension plans offered by state and local governments. They cover 14.5 million working participants, and 4 million retirees and beneficiaries. There are $3.3 trillion in assets, and they paid out $162 billion in benefits in 2007.
Assuming that the pension funds are 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds (the typical breakdown for such plans), these funds have $2 trillion invested in stocks.
Assuming the stocks break down the same way as the S&P 500 Index, here is how the following sectors directly-taxed by the cap and tax scheme break down, with the amount of assets held in the plans:
- Utilities: $73 billion (4 percent of the stock market)
- Energy: $220 billion (11 percent of the stock market)
Of course, all sectors will be hit by cap and tax, but it's important to note that 15 percent of the entire stock market (and, by extension, 9 percent of the total value of defined benefit pension plans) will be directly-hit by cap and tax.
