The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its newest "Options for Reducing the Deficit" publication, which is prepared periodically to help inform lawmakers about the budgetary implications of various approaches to changing Federal policies.  This latest version presents 103 options that would decrease Federal spending or increase Federal revenues over the next decade (from 2014 to 2023). 

These options, and their associated revenues, can be expected to be part of the mix as Congress attempts to meet upcoming deadlines for a long-term (10 year) deal on taxes and spending by December 13, 2013; a measure to provide funding for the Federal government, currently set to run out by mid-January, 2014; and an increase in the Federal debt ceiling, delayed until February 7, 2014. 

Several options would directly impact retirement, and include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Expand Social Security Coverage to Newly Hired State and Local Government Employees
• Further Limit Annual Contributions to DC Retirement Plans
• Include Investment Income From Life Insurance and Annuities in Taxable Income
• Tax Social Security Benefits in the Same Way That Distributions From Defined Benefit Pensions Are Taxed
• Impose a Tax on Financial Transactions
• Increase Federal Insurance Premiums for Private Pension Plans
• Reduce the Amounts of Federal Pensions
• Increase Federal Civilian Employees' Contributions to Their Pensions
• Link Initial Social Security Benefits to Average Prices Instead of Average Earnings
• Raise the Full Retirement Age for Social Security
• Lengthen by Three Years the Computation Period for Social Security Benefits
• Reduce Social Security Benefits for New Beneficiaries by 15 Percent
• Use an Alternative Measure of Inflation to Index Social Security
• Increase the Maximum Taxable Earnings for the Social Security Payroll Tax
• Reduce Tax Preferences for Employment-Based Health Insurance

Other options of major concern to government plan sponsors include:

• Eliminate the Deduction for State and Local Taxes
• Eliminate the Tax Exemption for New Qualified Private Activity Bonds
• Eliminate or Reduce Funding for Certain Grants to State and Local Governments

CBO notes that the options are "intended to reflect a range of possibilities, not a ranking of priorities or an exhaustive list."  Furthermore, the inclusion or exclusion of any particular option "does not imply endorsement or disapproval by CBO," and the report makes no recommendations.  Finally, the costs of any unfunded mandates that might be imposed on State and/or local governments by any of these options are unaddressed.

• CBO: "Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options"