Was a little disappointed with the NY Times for this article.
GOP tax plan is shockingly not that bad. They are going to increase the standard deduction, which definitely helps anybody who just graduated and is working to pay off loans. Obviously they should keep the other benefits for grad students, but it’s not crazy to see why this came up. The 401k thing was similar, I was horrified by it until I realized it just turned my 401k into a giant Roth IRA, which is awesome.
Wish they would not sacrifice revenue anywhere, but we can always raise that tax plan later it’s a great base to start with.
FWIW, the congressman Lamar Smith who has been a republican for 30 years and is retiring and thus doesn’t care, even he is working to make sure the benefits stay for grad students.
I don’t like the overall goals of the bill, but both the 401k change and the tuition reimbursement tax are even more objectionable, simply for being dishonest.
The 401k tax has precisely nothing to do with building a better tax code. It’s about capturing taxes on retirement savings now rather than later to make the bill look like it comes closer to paying for itself.
Similar to the tuition benefit tax. It’s a pure accounting trick. Sure, on paper there’s a ton of new revenue you’re now going to get, but no one is actually going to pay it. Grad students are broke! There’s not some untapped source of revenue there.
Can you link the 401k changes? All I am seeing is a proposed significant reduction in the pre-tax contributions. You could always choose an after-tax option so this looks to be strictly worse.
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[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 22.3 ms ] threadGOP tax plan is shockingly not that bad. They are going to increase the standard deduction, which definitely helps anybody who just graduated and is working to pay off loans. Obviously they should keep the other benefits for grad students, but it’s not crazy to see why this came up. The 401k thing was similar, I was horrified by it until I realized it just turned my 401k into a giant Roth IRA, which is awesome.
Wish they would not sacrifice revenue anywhere, but we can always raise that tax plan later it’s a great base to start with.
FWIW, the congressman Lamar Smith who has been a republican for 30 years and is retiring and thus doesn’t care, even he is working to make sure the benefits stay for grad students.
The 401k tax has precisely nothing to do with building a better tax code. It’s about capturing taxes on retirement savings now rather than later to make the bill look like it comes closer to paying for itself.
Similar to the tuition benefit tax. It’s a pure accounting trick. Sure, on paper there’s a ton of new revenue you’re now going to get, but no one is actually going to pay it. Grad students are broke! There’s not some untapped source of revenue there.
Why does this surprise you, like what circumstances made you think it wouldn't be predictably good, except for balancing the budget?