While the White House frames the Trump Accounts as a way to “give every newborn child a head start toward lifelong financial security and the American dream,” the reality is far less evenhanded.

The program may be open to every child, but its benefits will flow overwhelmingly to families with the means to contribute thousands of dollars a year.

What could have been a leveling tool instead risks becoming a widening wedge between the haves and the have-nots.

The Council of Economic Advisers modeled how much a child’s account would grow under different contribution patterns.

For a family living paycheck-to-paycheck that is unable to add anything beyond the government’s $1,000 seed deposit, the balance reaches just $5,839 by age 18.

That’s better than nothing, but hardly transformative.

For wealthier families, the picture looks entirely different.

Those able to make the maximum contributions of an inflation-adjusted $5,000 per year will see the same account swell to $303,757 by age 18. Two children, two seemingly identical programs, and two very different financial futures.

And the disparities don’t stop there.

Because Trump Accounts are structured like tax-advantaged retirement plans, the families who contribute the most also receive the largest tax breaks. A child whose family can’t save beyond the initial $1,000 sees only modest tax benefits by age 18.

A child whose parents can make the maximum contributions receives tax relief on an entirely different scale. In short: the richer the parents, the bigger the tax subsidy.

Jerry Hoare

Jim Thorpe