{"id":135372,"date":"2017-11-17T13:13:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T20:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135372"},"modified":"2017-11-18T02:03:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T09:03:28","slug":"gop-ramps-war-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/17\/gop-ramps-war-education.html","title":{"rendered":"The GOP ramps up its War on Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First there were noises made (and will continue to be made) about taxing the endowments of higher educational institutions at a higher rate. One can argue whether schools can or should use more of those endowments to pay for students to attend school, but nobody seems to have suggested &#8212; until now &#8212;\u00a0that they should be used as additional revenue for the federal government (to pay for upper class tax cuts).<\/p>\n<p>Now they&#8217;ve tweaked the tax bill (you know, the one that&#8217;s supposed to make everyone&#8217;s taxes so much better) to cause serious grief to graduate student programs. Many universities help support graduates working as research assistants and the like by giving them tuition waivers along with a meager salary. The House tax plan, just passed, makes those waivers taxable income, making the taxes owed by such students untenably higher.<\/p>\n<p>But, hey, who needs all those pointy-headed intellectuals who don&#8217;t come from families that can afford graduate degrees without such waivers? It&#8217;s hardly like we need proles with PhDs, amirite?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sm2wpreshared\">Originally shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/101083456815352083930\">+Robert Hansen<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If you haven&#8217;t been following this, now&#8217;s a good time to begin. The President and the GOP have essentially declared war on graduate students.<\/p>\n<p>Most graduate students receive a small paycheck and a large tuition waiver. Those waivers have previously not been counted as taxable income, so students earning $30,000\/year with a $40,000\/year waiver got to pay taxes at the $30K rate on $30K of income. The GOP tax bill will change this, requiring graduate students to pay taxes at the $70K rate on $70K of income, despite only earning $30K.<\/p>\n<p>Let me be clear: if this tax bill passes you&#8217;ll see graduate programs empty. It&#8217;s that big of a threat. At $70K the federal tax rate is 25%; that means $18K a year in taxes, when you only get paid $30K. It&#8217;s literally not enough money to live on, but since your W-2s report you&#8217;re making considerably more than poverty wages you don&#8217;t qualify for any public benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Graduate students know coming into the program they&#8217;ll spend a few years thin; they shouldn&#8217;t be required to starve.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ot-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/16\/opinion\/house-tax-bill-graduate-students.html\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/16\/opinion\/house-tax-bill-graduate-students.html<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"sm2wp\"><p><a style=\"display: inline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/16\/opinion\/house-tax-bill-graduate-students.html\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 650px;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/Sx8ASfEQLm6Y0hwftB9yEHQLps0Xk0rDDOPVaR8cpdAqAw4umWjQ_U5s5GeIyt5RxFoMuH0MKppKOChI5piIdosEJDaQnroO_aNC7NcmGwvG-3eIMnDpvVrQAS2UFYnZyWTUvhzcHj8nt8ULQK2_3Q=w506-h910\" border=\"0\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/16\/opinion\/house-tax-bill-graduate-students.html\">Opinion | The House Just Voted to Bankrupt Graduate Students<\/a><\/span><br \/>\nOur tax burden could increase by tens of thousands of dollars, based on money we don\u2019t even make.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/+DaveHill47\/posts\/gFnUZB2p74M\">View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First there were noises made (and will continue to be made) about taxing the endowments of higher educational institutions at a higher rate. One can argue whether schools can or should use more of those endowments to pay for students to attend school, but nobody seems to have suggested &#8212; until now &#8212;\u00a0that they should &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/17\/gop-ramps-war-education.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The GOP ramps up its War on Education&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,46,376],"tags":[125,1322,1176],"class_list":["post-135372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-school-daze","category-taxing-spending","tag-gop","tag-gradstudents","tag-taxreform"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/unnamed-7.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134766,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/19\/remember-used-jack-insurance-rates-got-sick.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":0},"title":"Remember when they used to jack up your insurance rates when you got sick?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 19-Sep-17 4:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the Graham-Cassidy bill, the last ditch (for 2017) effort by the GOP in the Senate to Repeal-and-Replace the ACA with something that isn't so ... well ... likely to help people stay solvent and\/or alive. A provision of the new Trumpcare bill gaining steam among Senate Republicans \u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/unnamed-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135505,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/03\/whos-breathing-easy-end-estate-tax.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":1},"title":"Who&#8217;s breathing easy at the end of the Estate Tax?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 3-Dec-17 11:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"If you earn a big chunk of money from working, you owe taxes on it. Similarly, if you get a really, really, really big chunk of money as an inheritance, you should owe taxes on it, too. That's the basic principle of the estate tax. It's not a \"death tax.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1060x600-17f1745ad040131aa0dc68ca0a7a0ce31.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":134924,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/04\/costly-colleges-engrossed-endowments.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":2},"title":"Costly colleges and engrossed endowments","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Oct-17 3:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As someone growing ever-more-aware of the cost of an undergraduate education at a high-class liberal arts school, this article struck home. [1] I honestly feel less outraged by these top schools maintaining massive endowment funds of cash, than that they do so (or grow them) based on oodles of tax\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135516,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/oops-gop-tax-bill-also-screwed-major-gop-supporters.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":3},"title":"Oops &#8212; the GOP tax bill also screwed over some major GOP supporters","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 6:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In their unseemly rush to get the Senate Tax Bill passed -- rush so great that the final 400-odd page version was handed out to Senators only a few hours before the vote, including hand-written marginal notes as part of the law -- they managed to screw up their own\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Mitch-McConnell.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135268,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/02\/im-shocked-shocked-find-gop-tax-cuts-will-benefit-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":4},"title":"I&#8217;m shocked, SHOCKED, to find the GOP Tax Cuts will benefit Donald Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 2-Nov-17 11:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The various bits and bobs to the middle class will help some, hurt others, and a lot of the helpful bits expire in a few years. But guys like Trump -- they will be saving many, many millions of dollars every year (and be much more able to funnel that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-in-shadow.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135056,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/11\/gop-federal-tax-plan-already-tried-kansas-failed.html","url_meta":{"origin":135372,"position":5},"title":"The GOP federal tax plan has already been tried. In Kansas. It failed.","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Oct-17 8:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"Kansas serves as a cautionary tale for the whole concept of \"if we cut taxes, the economy will thrive and we'll end up pulling in more tax revenue anyway\" that underlies Republican claims around their tax proposals. Making the rich richer, cutting taxes on businesses that already manage to exempt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-9.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135380,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135372\/revisions\/135380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}