The AARP-backed Retirement Investment in Small Employers (RISE) Act would give businesses with up to 10 employees a $2,500 credit on their federal taxes to cover start-up and administration costs associated with setting up a workplace retirement plan like a 401(k).
Americans are 15 times more likely to save if they can do so through their paychecks, according to AARP research. But more than half of all people working in the private sector are unable to save through work.
I’m pretty sure that research is correct. Americans are financially lazy. There is no real excuse.
If you don’t have an employer plan, try direct deposit or have your bank send money to your investments the same day you get paid. That’s what I do, quite easy actually.
Now is not the time for more tax credits.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
The 15X times more likely to save is a misrepresentation, bordering on a lie.
See: https://401kspecialistmag.com/state-mandated-payroll-deducted-iras/
That’s an EBRI “analysis” that they never published of 20+ year old data, which compares participation in IRAs and employer-sponsored plans by middle income workers. Those IRAs seldom have any employer financial support, let alone payroll deduction support. The employer-sponsored plans almost always include an employer match and, many times, use automatic features.
It isn’t even apples to oranges, more like apples to basketballs.
Remember why IRA participation is so low – it is because Congress intended that outcome. IRA contributions declined by 63% from 1986 to 1987 – the intentional, direct result of Congress changing the tax-deductibility of traditional IRAs. So, even though those who didn’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan could still make tax-deductible contributions, few do.
The other reason why IRA participation is so low is because 70+% of Americans admit that they are living paycheck to paycheck – that they would have some or significant difficulty meeting their current financial obligations if their next paycheck was DELAYED (not missed, DELAYED) one week! That is likely a super majority of the middle income group studies by EBRI. In the same American Payroll Association, 85+% of individuals who were eligible for an employer-sponsored plan confirmed that they were saving in that plan. So, saving in the employer-sponsored plan likely crowded out over 50% of the individuals who would otherwise be most likely to contribute to an IRA.
So, the comparison of IRA contributions and employer sponsored plans only tells you one part of the story …
But, repeat that Four Pinocchio statement 15x times or 12x times, and sooner or later, someone may repeat it here, too!
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People make choices and this is a consumer economy–we are not like Germans who save and save–the problem is we have folks who don’t save and invest, as easy as it is, and then want folks who did to subsidize them in old age–sometimes doing the right thing can end up biting you in the butt.
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