Roth IRA conversions and tax rates

[Nords]

https://news.fidelity.com/news/artic...es&topic=taxes

No quantitative predictive value. Fidelity's "answers" aren't exactly rocket science... they think that tax rates can go up farther than they'll go down.

But the interesting parts of the article are:
1.) Historical deficits, especially the Great Depression and WWII,
2.) Historical tax rates, especially the ones to contend with historical deficits,
and
3.) If your conventional IRA has been hammered down, then the taxable portion of the conversion is probably a lot smaller than it used to be.

[Gotadimple]

Funny, there was no discussion of reducing RMD's as another reason for converting to a Roth.

-- Rita

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gotadimple Funny, there was no discussion of reducing RMD's as another reason for converting to a Roth.

I think the article envisioned much smaller RMDs than most have hoped to expect..

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords I think the article envisioned much smaller RMDs than most have hoped to expect..

Yeah, I keep telling myself that large RMDs are a good problem to have. I guess we'll find out in a few years. If tax rates do go significantly higher, many of us may regret playing the gummint's silly game. I hope not.

[Running_Man]

What if the government actually cuts income tax rates and institutes a value added tax? This seems the most likely and simple way to address a trillion dollar annual deficit in the long term for the federal government.