The Daily Gamecock

Tax bill, including grad school tuition provision, passes Senate

<p>Graduate students could see their tax rate increase by as much as 13 percent.</p>
Graduate students could see their tax rate increase by as much as 13 percent.

A bill that would dramatically change the way tens of thousands of graduate students pay taxes is one step closer to becoming law. 

Senate Republicans passed their version of the GOP tax plan by a 51-49 margin in the early hours of Saturday morning. Democrats requested that the vote be pushed to Monday to give senators more time to review the proposed legislation, but Republicans went ahead with the vote.

This Senate bill differs in some respects from the House bill passed on Nov. 16, meaning a conference committee is likely. Senate leaders say they are confident that a compromise bill between the two houses of Congress shouldn't be hard to hash out. That process is expected to begin soon.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after the Senate passage that Republicans hope to pass the legislation by the Christmas holiday break.

In its current form, the bill would take away a provision that allows approximately 145,000 graduate students to not pay taxes on tuition waivers they receive from their college or university. Some USC graduate students are among those who take advantage of the current rules and who could see their tax rate increase by as much as 400 percent if the bill becomes law.

“I think for the Ph.D students especially, I think it could be a big deal as far as an increased cost for them,” mass communications student Joseph Meyers told The Daily Gamecock. 

News writer Arunmani Phravoratchith contributed to the reporting of this story.


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