The House Just Voted to Bankrupt Graduate Students
I hope all are calling their Reps and Senators about this stupidity!
The House Just Voted to Bankrupt Graduate Students
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/opinion/house-tax-bill-graduate-students.html?action=click&contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
Erin Rousseau
5-6 minutes
Republicans in the House of Representatives have just passed a tax bill that would devastate graduate research in the United States. Hidden in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a repeal of Section 117(d)(5) of the current tax code, a provision that is vital to all students who pursue master’s degrees or doctorates and are not independently wealthy.
I’m a graduate student at M.I.T., where I study the neurological basis of mental health disorders. My peers and I work between 40 and 80 hours a week as classroom teachers and laboratory researchers, and in return, our universities provide us with a tuition waiver for school. For M.I.T. students, this waiver keeps us from having to pay a tuition bill of about $50,000 every year — a staggering amount, but one that is similar to the fees at many other colleges and universities. No money from the tuition waivers actually ends up in our pockets, so under Section 117(d)(5), it isn’t counted as taxable income.
But under the House’s tax bill, our waivers will be taxed. This means that M.I.T. graduate students would be responsible for paying taxes on an $80,000 annual salary, when we actually earn $33,000 a year. That’s an increase of our tax burden by at least $10,000 annually.
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In a horrible twist, the repeal of Section 117 (d)(5) isn’t the only part of the tax bill that would hurt college students. The House bill would also end the student loan interest deduction, which allows individuals who make up to $80,000 and are repaying student loans to decrease their debt. It also eliminates the Lifetime Learning Credit, which is instrumental for many nontraditional students..........................
Republicans held a news conference on Capitol Hill after the House of Representatives passed a tax reform bill. Al Drago for The New York Times
= new reply since forum marked as read
their heirs have already had every possible advantage
and the dead don't miss it
Not like there's anybody out there like that.
through the TV screen last night when I saw him pontificating about how this bill is not a hand out to the wealthy. I would have strangled him had I been able to get within range of him. He obviously hasn't read the bill. There is no way in hell he read that bill before voting on it. He probably had some lying aide read it to him, but that damned bill never touched his stupid, old hands. 
rich kids never earned isn't to be taxed. GOP world, where up is down, back is front, good is bad, etc.
I HATE THESE GOD-DAMNED PEOPLE!
time although the entire job market was collapsing around 05 and finding a job of any type was almost impossible.
In the old days because of my field and our school (top five university), and my publications and awards, I would have walked into a choice job at an Ivy League school. But not now! It all became a huge nightmare for all of us. Many people I know left academia after fruitlessly searching for three or even four years on the job market. They now work for private corporations and the government (there are many drawbacks but both private companies and the gov pay FAR FAR better than universities do for the same work).
Others are still drifting along in adjunct jobs that are really far beneath their ability level. It has been tragic and crushing. Truly. You work so incredibly hard for that degree, over many tough years, in a profession you plan to devote your life to and with the way things have been going (what I saw under Bush II and now Trump & his clown car 🚗
has been...well...devastating.
