Biden Isn’t Going to Tax 401ks
The Claim
Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden is going to tax 401ks if elected.
News posted on
Emerging story
In October 2020, an image claiming that “Biden slipped up and came out saying he’s going to tax your 401k” went viral.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Biden’s tax plan includes “equalizing the tax benefits of retirement plans.”
Part of this entails equalizing benefits across the income scale so that lower-income workers might have more tax savings. This means that it would change out current wage-based deductions with a flat deduction for all income levels.
Experts at the Tax Foundation estimate that this change would allow 401k holders to save the same percentage on their taxes.
Since these are still tax subsidized, replacing the current deduction with a flat refundable tax credit is not the same as taxing a 401k.
