The House GOP just voted and passed its Tax Reform Bill that would cause tuition waviers to be counted as taxable income. This could raise taxes of grad students so much that it makes graduate study completely unaffordable.
Chris Marsicano started a Twitter thread on how to effectively create impactful voices to be heard by the GOPs in the Senate during reconciliation of the House and Senate Tax Bills:
1. As y’all know, I study higher ed lobbyists and used to work for one. A friend asked how I would lobby against the Graduate School Tuition Waiver Tax if I were still in the game. I thought about it, and here’s how I would tell students to oppose the #GradStudentTax
2. First, I would shorten the name of the Graduate School Tuition Waiver Tax to the “Grad Student Tax.”
Pennsylvania – Sen. Toomey – (717) 782-3951 Nevada – Sen. Heller – (702) 388-6605 South Carolina – Sen. Scott – (803) 771-6112 Lousiana – Sen. Cassidy – (225) 929-7711
6. Why those states? Those are the states that GOP members of the Senate Finance committee represent. When the House and Senate Bills are reconciled, these are the people who will be doing the reconciling. You want the #GradStudentTax gone in the final bill.
7. I would then tell anyone who plans on calling their Senators to express opposition to the #GradStudentTax in the kindest way possible. In short, keep your cool when talking to Senate staffers. You’re a lot more likely to get your message across if you are kind.
8. After that, I would tell grad students opposed to the #GradStudentTax to write and submit op-eds to the newspaper that covers your local area or an area you can claim as “home.” These newspapers might include:
11. I guarantee that someone on each of those Senators’ staffs reads the local newspaper cover to cover every day. You want the #GradStudentTax to be on their minds.
12. I would then caution #GradStudentTax/#GradSchoolTax opponents against hitting the streets – protest style. For some of these Senators protest will only fuel the narrative that grad students are privileged, elite, liberal snowflakes in their ivory tower.
13. While that is incredibly unfair, that is how some Senators will see your impassioned speech about the #GradStudentTax.
Instead, this is a great time to use the skills you’ve learned in academia.
14. By now, you have spent so much time as a grad student learning how to write. Use those skills – write emails, letters, op-eds, etc. There is a place for open protest, but the written word is much stronger than any picket sign or chant when it comes to the #GradStudentTax.
15. Most importantly, keep your eye on the prize – finishing your research/dissertation/thesis etc. If this bill will cripple your ability to go to grad school, do all you can to finish before the #GradStudentTax/#GradSchoolTax gets enacted.
16. We need citizen-academics to change the world with their research. That is a lot harder to do if the #GradStudentTax forces you to quit before you get “PhD” at the end of your name. Do all you can to finish, and do so ASAP.
17. Lastly, I would tell #GradStudentTax opponents stay out of the way of the universities and other organizations that are fighting on your behalf. If you are in graduate school, chances are your university has a lobbyist who is fighting tooth and nail for your future.
18. Don’t get in your lobbyist’s way by being mean to Senators or their staff. Your lobbyists need to draw on good relationships they’ve spent years building in order to do their jobs. Don’t tie one hand behind their backs just because you are (understandably) angry.
19. That’s how I would tell #gradstudents to oppose the #GradStudentTax if I was still a lobbyist. But I’m not, so I defer to actual university lobbyists who do incredible work. If you hear something different from them, listen to them. Trust me, they know what they are doing.
Facebook user Amanda Rose posted a photo calculating how much taxes she would have to pay under the new tax bill.
Under a $39K take home stipend and $51k tuition, she used to pay $3.7k in taxes, and could potentially pay $13.4k in taxes, leaving her post-rent income decreasing from $21.4k to just $11.7k, a nearly 50% decrease in disposable income.
I took a hiatus to apply for grad school but the damn GOP just won’t let me live. Back to yell into the Tumblr void about this:
The House haspassed their new Tax Billwhich does many unreasonable things, the chief of which I am unhappy about is that they will no longer consider tuition waviers as untaxable income.
Consider that most grad school programs cost anywhere between $30k-$50K a year, with stipends in the range of $20 to $30K. Under the new ruling, grad students will be taxed the tuition wavier, money which they never touch. This could raise taxable income from $30k to $80k. Not only do grad students already earn very little to survive on, now they pay a higher real tax rate than any billionaire (adjusted for take home income). It is entirely possible for them to have to pay nearly $12k just in taxes, leaving just $18k to live on.
I am in the process of applying to grad school and receiving this news I don’t even know if I can afford it now, even with a full ride. I was already not going to accept any school that doesn’t cover my tuition, now I might not even be able to attend at all.
The (barely) good news is that the Senate has a Tax Bill of its own that retains the clause that keeps tuition waviers from being taxed. If the Senate passes that Tax Bill, then the House and Senate will have to sit down and reconcile the bills. Meaning, the have to argue over the differences and decide which version to keep in the final cut.
It is possible to keep tuition waviers tax free. Following what ex-lobbyist Chris Marsicano said, there are ways to persuade the GOP members that will be on the reconciliation committee to favor the Senate version. Please help spread the word, so that grad students in the USA can afford their education, rather than have to give up their studies. (Plus it hurts the US knowledge economy.)
Made this because of yet another Tumblr fiasco! Im a queer witch trying to find a new home that offers the same quirkyness as tumblr. But without the problems :)
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