Expanding Opportunities to Save and Invest

Saving is the path to independence for Americans in all phases of life, and the President wants to help create the conditions that encourage more Americans to take that path.

Permanent Tax Relief. The tax cuts are critical to our future economic growth and Washington should not take them away. Congress needs to make these cuts permanent. The tax cuts will create 800,000 more jobs this year and help Americans save and invest by:

• Cutting taxes for all taxpayers in all tax rates;
• Doubling the child tax credit to $1,000 to help parents with the high costs of raising children;
• Expanding the earned income credit and making the child credit refundable to put money in the hands of millions of low-income families with children;
• Helping Americans save more for their retirement tax-free by raising IRA and 401(k) contribution limits;
• Helping families save for their children's education tax-free;
• Repealing the death tax;
• Providing relief from the marriage penalty; and
• Accelerating depreciation so businesses can invest more and hire more.

Pension Protections & Retirement Security. The President is signing into law tough new corporate accountability standards that tell workers that what's fair on the top floor should be fair on the shop floor. Under the new law, workers will now be given advance notice before any blackout period begins and company officers will not be allowed to sell their own company stock when workers cannot. The President has proposed additional reforms to help Americans get more timely investment information, greater access to professional investment advice, and protect and grow their retirement savings by ensuring that front line workers have greater freedom to diversify their retirement portfolios. The President is also committed to ensuring that Social Security benefits are protected for all seniors, and allowing younger workers the option of investing in safe personal retirement accounts.

Confidence. A critical component of saving and investing is confidence. The President wants to return ethics, integrity and accountability to corporate America so that investors can be confident they have the facts they need to make informed decisions. The President's agenda exposes acts of corporate corruption by increasing coordination with a new Corporate Fraud Task Force. The President's agenda moves corporate accounting out of the shadows by creating a new independent accounting oversight board to police the accounting profession. And the President's agenda protects small investors and pension holders by giving workers the same rights as corporate executives. This Administration will investigate, arrest and prosecute corporate executives who break the law.