Brad Campbell Quoted in Pensions & Investments

Washington, D.C., counsel Bradford Campbell quoted in Pensions & Investments in an article titled, “November's Winners Face Pressing Retirement, Tax Issues.”

The article notes that regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, a $1.1 trillion federal budget deficit and tax reform will have to be addressed. Both will put retirement tax incentives and tax rates for private investment and higher-income taxpayers on the table in the search for federal revenue sources.

Both presidential candidates said they want to lower the tax rates overall, with Republican candidate Mitt Romney proposing to fund the lower rates with fewer tax deductions and President Barack Obama calling for raising tax rates for higher-income earners and capping the retirement contribution exclusion for those taxpayers.

If Governor Romney takes the White House, however, the Department of Labor's controversial fiduciary rule that seeks to expand the definition of fiduciary to cover more types of investment advisers and situations is expected to be pushed aside in order to deal with issues like electronic disclosure, simplification of new fee disclosure rules and lifetime income statements.

Brad said, "They are issues that are not terribly exciting but that really matter.” He added, “There is also the reality of a new administration's "steep learning curve."

"It's very hard for a new administration to hit the ground running. If there is a change, you're probably not going to see new policies coming out for a while, but you might see old policies stopped,” he said.