“There are tremendous ramifications for our members and the system.”
–Cindy Rougeou, executive director of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS), in discussing the neet to obtain a determination from the IRS on whether or not Piyush Jindal’s recently approved “cash-balance” 401(k) type retirement plan for new hires, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2013, will be eligible for tax-exempt status–a question one would reasonably expect Jindal to have determined well in advance of presenting his new plan for legislative approval.
Louisiana Voice 
My guess is it will be declared tax exempt by the IRS, but will NOT exempt employees participating in it from Social Security. If I am correct, the state and the empoyees will be on the hook for Social Security contributions in addition to contributions to the new cash balance program. This would be a SERIOUS financial hit for both. And, don’t forget that the creation of this new program does NOTHING to address the unfunded accrued liabilities of the existing systems.
Uh, duh, yes, I would say tremendous………..
Duh is right, pw. I should have read Tom’s excellent full article on this subject before commenting on this quote. It covers everything I said except, perhaps, my last sentence. Sorry for the extraneous post.
Actually, the “Duh” response was, I believe, to express agreement with Cindy Rougeou’s statement in Notable Quotables.