In Detail: Ways & Means Vote on Pension Reform

During debate, the committee adopted three amendments to the bill, according to the American Benefits Council.  These amendments:

• would help families establish pension plans for household workers by removing the excise tax on non-deductible retirement plan contributions made for household workers (passed unanimously)
• permit religious orders, such as the Amish, to contribute to retirement plans even though they do not pay employment taxes (passed unanimously)
• allow cruise lines to exclude non-resident aliens with limited US income from their employer-sponsored retirement plans, effectively boosting the contribution rate of relatively higher paid ship officers (passed 27-12, largely on party lines).

“No” Way

Largely along party lines, the committee rejected two amendments proposed by Rep. Richard Neal (D- Ma) that would have:

• provided refundable tax credits for contributions made by low- and middle-income workers to employer-sponsored plans and IRAs (up to $1,000/year) and
• established two small business tax credits, one for start-up costs and another for contributions on behalf of non-highly compensated workers, that would have matched 50% of contributions to IRAs or qualified plans for families earning up to $25,000/year, with a phase out up to $75,000/year.
   
  Vote Note

The Ways and Means Committee approved the bill 35-6 margin.  All committee Republicans voted in favor of the bill joined by 11 Democrats.

The six Democrats opposing the bill were:

• Xavier Becerra (CA)
• Robert Matsui (CA)
• Jim McDermott (WA)
• Richard Neal (MA)
• Charles Rangel (NY)
• Pete Stark (CA)

HR 10 will be reviewed tomorrow by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and will be considered on the House floor next week.

– Nevin Adams        editors@plansponsor.com