[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 THE GENERATING RETIREMENT OWNERSHIP THROUGH LONG-TERM HOLDING ACT OF 
                                  2007

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. PAUL RYAN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 20, 2007

  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I, along with Congressman Artur 
Davis and Congressman Joseph Crowley, introduce today the Generating 
Retirement Ownership Through Long-Term Holding (``GROWTH'') Act of 
2007. This important bill gained the bipartisan support of 73 House 
colleagues in the 109th Congress. We introduce this important 
legislation in an effort to address one of the issues making it 
difficult for today's working investors to save for retirement.
  Most of our Nation's mutual fund shareholders report that retirement 
is the primary purpose for which they are saving. More than 31 million 
American households are saving through taxable mutual funds, either to 
realize a greater return on their savings, to supplement their 
employers' retirement plans, or because they do not have access to such 
plans. Seventy-two percent of fund investors say that their primary 
goal is to save for retirement. At the same time, almost half about 75 
million of 155 million workers--are not offered any form of pension or 
retirement savings plan at work.
  Mutual fund investors are overwhelmingly middle-income Americans 
investing for the long term. For many of these investors, mutual funds 
are the low-cost, professionally managed, diversified way in which they 
are saving on their own for retirement. Currently, investors who buy 
shares in a mutual fund and hold for the long term find themselves 
taxed as they go--even though no fund shares were sold and no income 
was received. This legislation allows mutual fund shareholders to keep 
more of their own money working for them longer by deferring capital 
gains taxes until they actually sell their investment. The ``GROWTH'' 
Act makes it easier for these individuals to meet their goals and enjoy 
a secure retirement.
  Those investors who opt in advance to leave capital gains generated 
by the fund manager reinvested in the fund are doing what so many of us 
want to see--they are holding for the long term, contributing to 
national savings, and building up their own retirement nest egg.
  The GROWTH Act will encourage Americans to save more and to save for 
the long term to better prepare for a secure retirement. I urge my 
colleagues to join us in this effort and cosponsor this legislation.

                          ____________________