TAKE ACTION: Urge your Member of Congress and Senators to ask fiscal cliff negotiators to reject a tax deductions cap. Representatives and Senators should tell their leadership that a deductions cap poses significant risk and substantial potential harm to life insurance, annuities, retirement savings and employer-provided benefits. A deduction cap of any kind should be rejected during the fiscal cliff negotiations.

As the 112th lame duck Congress grapples with fiscal cliff issues, a potential solution is emerging that would peg extension of current (2012) year tax rules to a structure and expedited process for enacting tax (and entitlement) reform in 2013. The structure is expected to include a requirement that income tax rates—for both businesses and individuals—go down (talk is of 25 percent to 28 percent), “paid for” by “closing loopholes” and/or limiting the value of tax deductions, exclusions, deferrals and credits.

“With the elections decided,” says President Doug Massey, “it’s incumbent on us to move forward to strengthen our grassroots advocacy efforts… to protect from government overreach on our products and services and protect the millions of Texans who rely on us to provide them financial security and peace of mind. Many of our products have significant tax advantages for our clients. We must remain proactive to preserve their unique and well-deserved tax treatment.

NAIFA members are reminded to take particular care when making annuity sales to seniors in order to protect themselves from ending up in a similar situation as Glenn Neasham, the California producer who was convicted of theft for selling an annuity to a senior client who was later found to have dementia.

The fate of a proposal that would impose stronger investment advice rules for retirement plans rests on the outcome of next week's election, according to experts who spoke at an industry conference on Tuesday.

The Department of Labor will either get a green light during a second administration of President Barack Obama or it will be told to halt its work if Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney prevails.