Thread: Davis bill lets IRAs be used by victims

An email I received today....


Dear JP,


I wanted to share with you an article that ran today's Cincinnati Enquirer regarding a bill that I introduced last night in the U.S. House of Representatives.


Geoff Davis




Davis bill lets IRAs be used by victims

Staff Writer Patrick Crowley


Hurricane Katrina victims would be eligible to withdraw money from individual retirement accounts without paying a penalty under legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis.

Davis, a Boone County Republican who represents Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, is co-sponsoring the Disaster Victims' Savings Access Act with Rep. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss.

Under federal law, early withdrawals from 401(k) retirement plans or individual retirement accounts face a 10 percent penalty from the government. Davis said people in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina need access to their money now and shouldn't have to pay the penalty.

"I found it very troubling that our tax code did not already contain this measure of help for persons affected by a (federally) declared disaster," Davis said in a statement released Tuesday night. "People who have lost their homes and businesses need to be able to access their savings immediately without worrying about tax penalties."

If passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, the bill would allow individuals whose home, business or job is located in a county that is declared a federal disaster area to withdraw up to half of the value of a qualified retirement plan, or up to $250,000, whichever is greater.

This bill applies to any federal disaster area, so victims of future disasters will have the same benefits as Hurricane Katrina victims.

Other provisions include:

Income tax liability of the amount of the emergency distribution could be spread over a five-year period.

The one-time emergency distributions could later be recontributed to the plan within a five-year period with no limit on contributions.

Emergency access to savings could be made within three years of a disaster declaration.

"Victims of Hurricane Katrina need options," Pickering said in the statement. "For some of them, their investments are all they have left. This bill will remove penalties as they consider not only retirement tomorrow but also food today."







1541 Longworth House Office Building | Washington, DC 20515 | p: 202-225-3465 | f: 202-225-0003

This is obviously a racist Republican plan to allow blacks to deplete their retirement funds early, so they will have nothing later.


OR



It's unfair, it sticks us schmucks with accounts that will pay in dollars, after the U.S. dollar is loses all it's value.


pa

I posted it because I thought it was an absolutely dumb idea.