Tax Payers are Shouldering Insult on Top of Injury

?Entrepreneurship is the key driver for economic recovery, and yet the inability to access pension funds makes starting a business and staying afloat impossible for many and harder than necessary for most? says Francie Dalton, President of Washington D.C. based business consultancy Dalton Alliances, Inc.

?It?s not right that relief is available only for those who have abused the system, and not for the ordinary tax payer. The criteria for hardship withdrawals should be generously expanded? she says.

?First, the ordinary tax payer coughs up 7 billion dollars to offset the impact of mismanaged and unethical businesses, whose executives then collect bonuses. As the recession worsens, millions of those same ordinary tax payers are laid off. And yet our government persists in levying penalties of up to 40% on early withdrawals from retirement funds. It?s outrageous!?

?Outrage is?more than mindless anger? says Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel in his book ?Justice?. It is ?anger at injustice?, he says. ?In times of trouble, a good society pulls together. Rather than press for maximum advantage, people look out for one another?.

?In what way, exactly? asks Dalton, ?is the continued penalizing of early withdrawals ?just??

?Believe it or not?, she says, ?I actually understand why it was necessary to use your tax dollars and mine to bail out the U.S. economy. What I do not understand is why we common folk are being penalized even further as we turn for survival to our retirement accounts.?

?So far, scam artists are keeping their jobs and collecting bonuses? says Dalton. ?But ordinary tax payers who lose their jobs, can?t find another one and can?t get a loan also can?t access their own money without paying hefty penalties. That?s not justice.?

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Francie Dalton, CMC, is founder and president of Dalton Alliances, Inc, a Washington D.C. based consultancy specializing in the communication, management, and behavioral sciences. Her new book, ?Versatility? and more information about her offerings can be found at www.daltonalliances.com. Reach her at 800-442-3603.