<nobr>Jun 3, 2008</nobr>

Accurate Revenue Estimates Needed for Retirement Policy

ERIC News Release
For Immediate Release: June 3, 2008

Washington, D.C. -- The ERISA Industry Committee and nine other advocacy organizations issued a research report that highlights the need for accurate federal budget scorekeeping estimates for proposed legislative changes affecting retirement savings.

The report, Revenue Estimates and Retirement Policy: The Need to Consider Present-Value Estimates of Changes in Tax Policy, concludes that the current federal budget scorekeeping rules -- under which revenue effects are reflected on a cash-flow basis using a ten-year budget window -- overstate the true costs of retirement savings proposals. These rules result in a distortion of the economic costs of tax deferrals, which are eventually paid, and inhibit the enactment of legislative proposals designed to increase retirement benefits for American workers.

Employer-sponsored retirement plans continue to play a crucial role in assuring financial security for the retirement for tens of millions of Americans. The long-term benefits of retirement plan tax incentives should be clarified by evaluating costs on a present-value basis. This would allow policymakers to consider legislative changes that could increase retirement savings for millions of Americans.

A number of organizations associated with retirement issues, investments, and governmental plans sponsored the research report with ERIC. They are the following:

• American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries


• Profit Sharing/401k Council of America


• U.S. Chamber of Commerce


• The ESOP Association


• Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets


• National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems


• National Association of State Retirement Administrators


• American Benefits Council


• National Association of Manufacturers

Judy Xanthopoulos and Mary M. Schmitt prepared the report.

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For more information:
Ted Godbout
Manager, Communications
The ERISA Industry Committee
1400 L Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 789-1400;
Fax: (202) 789-1120
tgodbout@eric.org
www.eric.org


The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) is a non-profit association committed to representing the advancement of the employee retirement, health, and compensation plans of America's largest employers. ERIC's members provide benchmark retirement, health care coverage, compensation, and other economic security benefits directly to tens of millions of active and retired workers and their families. ERIC has a strong interest in proposals affecting its members' ability to deliver those benefits, their cost and their effectiveness, as well as the role of those benefits in the American economy.

Revenue Estimates and Retirement Policy

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