In a world where middle class American families have effectively made zero economic progress in a decade, many are waiting for the next shoe to drop – as governments also try to figure out how to make more tax income from those embattled average workers.

That precarious climate has led many politicians to begin pointing a finger at the tax preferences that help support the limited benefits many American workers enjoy – namely their ever-dwindling employee-based health care and their retirement plans.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute recently convened to look at those issues and the potential clawbacks of the tax incentives that have made those programs remain attractive to employers, even in these increasingly tough times.