Excerpt: Andrew Stumpff [and Norman Stein] have recently written a piece for Tax Notes's Shelf Project entitled ? 'Repeal Tax Incentives for ESOPs.' The article appears in the October 19, 2009 issue of Tax Notes. Professor Stein is a sought after advisor to the Congress on retirement savings policy, and is highly respected by staff policy makers in the Administration and the key Congressional tax committees. Tax Notes's Shelf Project is a collaboration among tax professionals to develop proposals to help Congress raise revenue without raising tax rates. While a close read of the article reveals more of a dislike, or debunking if you will, of the economic theories of ESOP originator Louis O. Kelso, its bottom line is ESOPs do not improve company performance, do not increase wealth consistently, and therefore do not deserve to be ERISA plans nor have tax benefits.

MORE >>