 is they force the original account holder to take taxable distributions, even if they aren't needed. That might surprise you that some people don't need their money for retirement, but I've seen it quite often, actually, that folks have done a good job saving or being thrifty, and they just don't spend in retirement, and so they don't need their money, but an RMD forces you to take money out of an eligible account and pay income tax on that.