Fidelity: Retirement Tax Breaks Matter

More U.S. workers could end up having no retirement savings at all if the government eliminated 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other tax-deferred savings programs.

Fidelity Investments, Boston, makes that case in a commentary that draws on results from a recent survey of 1,000 retirement plan participants and former participants.

Some policymakers in Washington have suggested that Obama administration members and members of Congress who are trying to cut the federal budget deficit should consider reducing or eliminating retirement savings incentives. The incentives lower tax revenue, make the tax system more complicated, and tend to help relatively high-income taxpayers more than they help lower-income taxpayers, critics of the incentives say.