Personal Finance and Investing

IRAs and 401ks and the like can provide significant tax shelters for the wealthy.

For the lower and even middle classes, not as much. Most retirees in that range are lightly taxed to begin with, or don't pay income taxes at all. So, the benefits from tax deferment and tax-free growth can be minimal.

A far simpler strategy would be to set the 10% and 12% tax bracket rates to 0% starting the year you hit your full retirement age. Across the board, no merit-based approach. This provides the exact same benefit to low earners, and high earners are capped at that same tax haven. Then you can abolish retirement accounts altogether.

Encouraging savings is a separate problem requiring new ideas.