How a middle-class retirement plan became a tax dodge for the rich
CBSN
The Roth IRA was designed more than two decades ago as a way for middle-class workers to set aside money for retirement. People earning less than $95,000 at the time could sock money away, then let it grow tax-free until they retired, when they could make withdrawals without owing taxes.
"I wanted to make these IRAs available to many, many people," Senator William Roth, who worked on the retirement plan's design, said when Roth IRAs debuted in 1998.
Since then, Roth IRAs have indeed been used by millions — including some of America's wealthiest citizens, a far cry from the middle-income worker for whom the retirement plan was designed. But that may soon come to an end if Democratic lawmakers are successful in passing their budget reconciliation proposal. That effort includes a provision that would close a loophole that now allows wealthy people to sidestep the income limits on Roth IRAs.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.