This excerpt originally appeared in National Center for Policy Analysis on July 9, 2012.

Private corporations are asking Congress to change how they calculate their annual pension contributions, which could create a huge unfunded liability for taxpayers, say Jason J. Fichtner and Eileen Norcross, senior research fellows with the Mercatus Center. The law requires corporate plans to measure their liabilities, and determine annual contributions to fund them, using the rate of return on corporate bonds -- the discount rate. Now, corporations are lobbying for Congress to allow them to increase the discount rate. This allows accountants to assume better investment performance, setting aside fewer dollars for future pension obligations.

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