GOP Tax Bill Could Cut Benefits to Private Colleges

GOP+Tax+Bill+Could+Cut+Benefits+to+Private+Colleges

A story that has been steadily reaching more and more headlines is the Republicans’ tax reform plan. By the end of the year, GOP members in Congress plan to pass a new tax system that they claim will create jobs, increase investment, and put more money into the hands of middle-class American families through tax cuts and by eliminating the healthcare mandate.

The proposed bill will also grant a 15 percent tax cut to American corporations, taking the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent.

However, according to the New York Times, approximately “13 million middle-class families” who should reportedly be saving money, would actually be paying more under this new tax proposal.

Not only would millions of middle-class Americans eventually be paying more money, but so would college students.

“There are many aspects of the House and Senate tax bills that are causing concerns for various groups,” said George Synodi, Vice President for Finance & Administration at the University of New Haven. “One area that concerns not-for-profit…colleges and universities is the proposed elimination of tax-exempt debt. If this becomes law, it will become more expensive for…colleges and universities to borrow and ultimately that will result in higher costs for consumers.”

According to the University of New Haven’s website, the university is filed as a non-profit institution. This means that if the proposed tax bill is passed, it will cost more for the university to borrow money meaning that new and returning students could potentially be expected to pay more money in tuition and other fees in order to offset the cost to borrow money.

“Tax reform is simply a form of tax redistribution and this is an example of higher costs being indirectly pushed to college students,” said Synodi.