The early-withdrawal penalty punishes exactly the workers who lack other resources to draw on

Evidence

But if you take an early withdrawal (prior to turning fifty-nine and a half), the penalties are steep—not only is the withdrawal included in your taxable income, but the government also levies an additional 10 percent income tax penalty. The penalty is designed as a deterrent, to discourage withdrawals. But early retirement account withdrawals are generally a last resort. If employees could get the money elsewhere—through a loan or a gift from family, or from savings—they would not be withdrawing it from their retirement accounts. So it’s not surprising that black employees, who have fewer of these kinds of resources to draw on, are significantly more likely to take hardship withdrawals. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 396