Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bishop, Tonja Bowen
Other Authors: James Poterba.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43799
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author Bishop, Tonja Bowen
author2 James Poterba.
author_facet James Poterba.
Bishop, Tonja Bowen
author_sort Bishop, Tonja Bowen
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description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008.
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spelling mit-1721.1/437992019-04-12T09:50:21Z Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts Bishop, Tonja Bowen James Poterba. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. Economics. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31). Economists have generally assumed that to the extent possible, retirement savings should be done in a tax-deferred account. However, the advent of Roth-style tax-favored accounts and concerns about the tax implications of increasing retirement income through tax-deferred distributions indicate that this question merits a reevaluation. I use data on married couples in the HRS and NBER's TAXSIM model to measure the probability of a household facing a higher tax rate at ages 62, 65, and 69 than the household faced at age 57. When the marginal tax rate is higher, the household could decrease their lifetime tax by choosing a Roth-style account over a tax-deferred account. I also measure the probability of facing a marginal tax rate that is sufficiently high that the household minimizes tax payments by using a taxable account rather than a tax-deferred account, in the absence of a Roth option. I find that for distributions beginning at age 69, between 10 and 35% of households with taxable income at age 57 should prefer a Roth account to a tax-deferred account, but very few households prefer a taxable account. by Tonja Bowen Bishop. S.M. 2008-12-11T18:29:29Z 2008-12-11T18:29:29Z 2008 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43799 261480641 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 50 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Economics.
Bishop, Tonja Bowen
Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title_full Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title_fullStr Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title_full_unstemmed Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title_short Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts
title_sort variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax favored accounts
topic Economics.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43799
work_keys_str_mv AT bishoptonjabowen variationinmarginaltaxratesaroundretirementandthereturntosavingintaxfavoredaccounts