Washington state looking at aggressive pension reform
Posted February 26, 2013 10:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BELLINGHAM, WA (NEWS1130) – While governments in this country grapple with pension reform, an aggressive idea is being fiercely debated just south of our border.
Politicians in Washington state are mulling over the idea of shifting government workers from pensions to RRSPs.
The plan would move current workers under the age of 45 away from defined benefit plans into defined contributions. New workers would also go into the RRSP plan.
Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that’s even more aggressive than what’s being discussed here in Canada.
“Right now, I think what needs to happen in Canada, [is] we need to change new employees over to the defined contribution plan or RRSP style. It’s the standard now in the private sector,” he tells us.
But Bateman feels something needs to happen in this country.
“We just can’t continue with these two classes of pensioners in Canada — one who happened to have a government job and one who have a private sector job paying for their own pension and paying for the government guy’s pension.”
Pension reforms are on the minds of governments all over this country these days, while a number of studies suggest Canadians are not saving enough for retirement.
