
House G.O.P. Tax Writers Take Aim at College Tuition Benefits - andrewke
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/us/politics/house-tax-bill-higher-education-increases-tuition.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
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Top19
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.

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wils1245
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.

