Clinton Proposes Retirement Accounts With Tax Credits

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposes tax credits worth up to $500 a year to match an individual's contributions to new "American Retirement Accounts" or A.R.A.s. Clinton proposes the tax credit and the new accounts to help more Americans save for their retirement.

These accounts will take the best of the 401(k) plans and make them available to every working family,'' Clinton said today during a speech in Webster City, Iowa. "They will help families and individuals who are falling through the cracks.''

While all Americans would be able to open one of the accounts, only couples making $100,000 or less would qualify for tax credits under the plan.

To help pay for the plan, the New York senator said she would freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels, when it will only affect couples with assets of more than $7 million. President George W. Bush's 2001 tax-cut program has gradually reduced the estate tax and it is scheduled to be repealed for a year in 2010 unless Congress acts.