THE NO-COMPROMISE RETIREMENT PLAN • 35
The Million-Dollar Question As a general trend, do you think taxes are going up or down in the future? I’ve asked that question a thousand times in the past year, and nearly every single person has answered the same way: Up. Here’s why so many of us feel that way. The federal debt is rising and rising. In the last chapter, we talked about how this was a good incentive for the government to keep interest rates low. But it’s also a good incentive for the gov- ernment to grow taxes. How bad is it? In 2013, analysts were excited that the federal deficit that year would be the first deficit in five years to increase by less than $1 trillion. 10 It was considered great news that our deficit was only going to grow by $1 trillion. One TRILLION dollars. A one with 12 zeroes: $1,000,000,000,000. Thirty years ago, no one even spoke in terms of trillions. That wasn’t even a unit of measurement most people knew. Billions used to be a mind-blowing amount of debt. And now we measure in trillions. Someone has to help pay for this debt, and that someone is U.S. taxpayers. So, let’s talk about ways your taxes could go up — now and in retirement. There are four primary ways your taxes could rise.
10 Congressional Budget Office. Feb. 5, 2013. “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023.” http: // www.cbo.gov / publication / 43907.
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