Top 10 Annuity Tax Bills in Play in Congress Now

Republicans and Democrats aren't working well together in Washington — except that sometimes they are, and especially on legislative involving matters such as health and retirement security. Everyone gets sick, and everyone gets old. That reality gives life to the embers of partisanship that continue to glow inside the U.S. Capitol. Life, health and retirement services providers can summon another powerful force for bipartisanship: hundreds of thousands of agents, brokers, planners, consultants, investment advisors, and legal and accounting professionals who have spent their lives learning how to present their ideas and overcome listeners' objections. Congress put the package containing the Secure Act onto the desk of former President Donald Trump in 2019, and then, last week, it managed to send President Joe Biden H.R. 3076 — a U.S. Postal Service retiree health benefits rescue bill that has been gestating for more than 10 years. Many tax bills that could affect individual annuities, or that could create other types of individual retirement arrangements that could use or compete with individual annuities, are still in play. We created a list of the top 10 annuity and individual retirement arrangement tax bills based on the following criteria:

• The bill had to mention the words "tax" and "annuity."
• Bills with both Democrats and Republicans on the co-sponsor list — and at least some hope of getting through the Senate — come first.
• Having co-sponsors in the Senate, where vote outcomes are much harder to predict, is better than having co-sponsors in the House.
• Bills that relate directly to individual annuities and other individual retirement arrangements rank higher than bills that mention annuities in passing.
• More co-sponsors beat fewer.

To see the list, look at the gallery above. Note that, in the real world, congressional leaders have often abandoned the traditional process of moving bills through Congress — attracting majority support in the House and 60 or more votes in the Senate. Instead, congressional leaders put bills in large omnibus spending packages. Members of Congress often have to pass the bills hastily, to avoid government shutdowns. That process means that a bill with no co-sponsors may become law as a bill with strong bipartisan support dies in committee. Check out the bills in the gallery above. Cover photo: The U.S. Capitol Rotunda. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)