Perhaps, you might suppose, these programs are ignored because they exist in the private sector — but they are actually heavily subsidized by the government. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the tax advantages for DBs, DCs and IRAs will cost the federal government $371 billion this year. There is no similar tally for state tax breaks, but including those would likely bring the total bill close to half a trillion dollars.
Given these tremendous expenses, it is initially hard to understand why people who seem so worried about the costs of old-age benefits choose to focus solely on Social Security. But it becomes easier to understand once you realize who benefits the most from the various parts of the old-age system...
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