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If the tax bill were to pass unchanged, roughly 145,000 graduate students could be responsible for suddenly paying taxes on the thousands of dollars in waivers that cover their tuition.
In addition, the Republican tax plan now under consideration eliminates the tax-free status of employer tuition reimbursements, up to $5,250 a year.
Higher education groups are already voicing opposition to this and other features of the bill that would increase the cost of higher education.
It also proposes taxing some private college endowments, which would discourage contributions to those endowments. Republicans proposed a 1.4-percent tax on the endowments of private colleges that enroll more than 500 students and that have nest eggs of more than $100,000 per student. The proposal would generate an estimated $3 billion over 10 years.'
[update 11/8: In the markup, the committee changed this to institutions with assets of $250,000 per enrolled student or more, vs. the $100,000 threshold in the initial bill].
Is your college/university on the list? https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent
And, as fewer people would itemize their deductions under this bill, it would likely the lead to a steep decline in donations to colleges.
Update 11/9: A strong argument from conservative George Will: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-republicans-take-aim-at-academic-excellence/2017/11/08/eb8e9056-c4af-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?utm_term=.086e2ed58af4
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