Business overview  Results of operations – Americas 40 Administration’s annual budget for the US federal government.  Executive Administration budget proposals must be enacted by  Congress before they become law. The risk of tax law changes  is heightened when additional revenue is sought to reduce the  federal deficit. In addition, tax reform initiatives of the type  currently being considered by congressional committees further  increase the risk of changes to the tax incentives for short- and  long-term savings products, to the tax treatment of derivatives  used by life insurers to hedge product-related liabilities, and  perhaps even to the taxation of life insurers. These changes, if  enacted, would directly impact the cost and competitiveness  of life insurance, annuity and pension products sold to ensure  Americans’ financial and retirement security. Some Aegon USA companies offer products and services to  individual retirement accounts (IRAs), pension and welfare  benefit plans that are subject to the federal Employment  Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA is administered  by the US Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue  Service (IRS). Accordingly, the DOL and IRS have jurisdiction to  regulate the products and services sold by these Aegon USA  businesses. The DOL has issued regulations defining the nature  of fees to be paid for investment advice in these plans, as well  as requiring increased fee disclosure from defined contribution  plan service providers and to plan participants. The DOL has  indicated that it will re-propose regulations regarding the  scope of an "investment advice fiduciary" in IRAs and defined  contribution plans, as well as further define the nature of  a plan sponsor’s obligations regarding certain plan participants’  investment options selected through a plan’s brokerage window.  Implementation of these and other regulations in the manner  proposed could increase the cost and administrative burdens of  the Aegon USA companies. Moreover, legislative proposals which impose restrictions on  executive compensation, or restrict employment-based savings  plans or the tax benefits related thereto, could adversely impact  the sale of life insurance products used in funding those plans  and their attractiveness relative to other non-insurance products.  Regulations announced under the Dodd-Frank Act that limit  investment by banks in certain financial services products or  increase the cost of issuing certain life insurance products would  adversely impact the sale of life insurance products. In particular,  the market for stable value products sold to defined contribution  plans, as well as other insurance products, would be adversely  affected if it was decided that these products should be  regulated as derivatives. Finally, proposed legislation that would  limit the ability of an insurer to access the US Social Security  Death Master File records would adversely impact the efficient  administration of its life insurance policies. The likelihood of  enactment of any such legislation cannot be predicted at this time.  Finally, both the US Treasury Department and the DOL have  published, in final and proposed forms, respectively, guidance to  facilitate the offering of guaranteed lifetime income products  (for example annuities), both as an investment option in  a retirement savings plan or as a distribution from that plan. US  federal legislation has also been proposed that is designed to  increase savings in employer retirement plans and to facilitate  managing those retirement savings as income in retirement  through annuities. The likelihood of passage of these legislative  proposals or finalization of the regulatory guidance cannot be  predicted at this time. However, the proposed legislation and  guidance, if enacted and finalized as proposed, would increase  the awareness of the benefits of annuitization and/or would  significantly reduce the administrative burden of offering  annuities within a retirement savings plan or as a distribution  option from the plan.  There have also been occasional legislative proposals in the  US Congress that target foreign-owned companies, such as  a proposal containing a corporate residency provision that  would redefine some historically foreign-based companies as US  corporations for US tax purposes. In an attempt to increase the number of workers covered by  a retirement savings plan, California has enacted legislation  that would permit non-governmental workers to join the state  government workers’ retirement plan or a similar governmental  plan. Certain steps must be taken, however, before the  legislation can be implemented. Several other states are  considering similar legislation. The opening of state retirement  plans to non-governmental workers could impact the products  and services sold by some Aegon USA companies to private  employers in those states. Many details of the Dodd-Frank Act were left to study or  regulation; therefore, the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on  Aegon USA, or the life insurance market in general, cannot  be fully determined until the regulations implementing the  Dodd-Frank Act are promulagated and the studies completed.  For example, the Dodd-Frank Act established the Federal  Stabilization Oversight Council ('FSOC'), responsible for  identifying 'systemically significant' companies which are to  be subject to additional oversight and heightened and other  prudential standards imposed by the Federal Reserve Board.  While Aegon USA has not to date been identified by FSOC as  systemically significant, the likelihood of future identification of  Aegon USA as systemically significant and/or the impact of any  designation of other insurers as systemically significant on the  competitive position of Aegon USA cannot be predicted at this time.  Although the insurance business is regulated at State level, the  US federal tax treatment of life insurance, pension and annuity  products is governed by the US federal tax code. Proposals to  remove or decrease the value of these tax incentives for these  products – both in and of themselves and relative to other  investment vehicles – have been debated periodically in the  US Congress and also have been proposed in the Executive  Annual Report 2013