The Roth plan would also ensure that the surplus is not spent, but instead goes to work for every working American. About 128 million Americans would receive a deposit in 2000, rising to about 132 million in 2004, the last year of the program. The first deposits would be made to personal retirement accounts on October 1, 2000. The bill would distribute half the budget surplus each year 1999 through 2004, as projected by the Congressional Budget Office. The formula for distributing the budget surplus is progressive.
Legislation also provides for a study of other investment options.
Those distributions will be fully taxable at the time they are received. The program would be supervised by a new, independent Personal Retirement Board, with members appointed by the President and Congressional leaders and subject to Senate confirmation. Board officials would be fiduciaries, and required by law to act only in the best financial interests of beneficiaries. The money in the program could be used for no other purpose than retirement benefits and the program's operating expenses. The stock funds would be managed by private sector investment managers.