GOP tax proposal robs poor to give to the rich
Robbing from the poor and giving to the rich. That’s the only way to describe the GOP tax “reform.” Let’s look at just one example.
Under the new GOP tax plan, waived tuition for graduate students becomes taxable. That means that grad students would have to pay tax on money they never had!
A typical grad student tuition is valued at, say, $30K per year but is waived so the student does not have to actually pay it. In exchange for working as a teaching assistant, the student actually receives a $20K stipend which is barely enough to live on.
Under the current tax system, the only taxable item is the $20K the student actually sees, and more than half of that is in the $0 tax bracket. Under the new GOP plan, the student would pay taxes on the entire $50K, mostly money they never had, and mostly in a non-zero tax bracket.
When you do the numbers it works out to a higher tax percentage than for billionaires.
If you think that the GOP is on your side, you probably own a private jet. Either that or you are not paying attention.
Mitch Bradley
Makawao