House Tax Reform Bill includes Changes with Significant Consequences for Graduate Students
The tax bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday includes several provisions that would directly impact students, particularly graduate students. Under current tax law, graduate student tuition waivers (sometimes referred to as tuition remission) are not taxable. The House bill would consider the waived tuition income, and add the tuition charges to a student’s stipend to calculate a student’s total taxable income. Depending on the cost of the tuition at a student’s university, this would raise a student’s tax obligation from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The bill also proposes eliminating the student loan interest deduction which individuals can now use even if they do not itemize on their taxes, and would eliminate the lifetime learning credit that helps offset the cost of higher education (the replacement credit included in the bill is only available for five years of higher education).
The Senate bill, released on November 9, does not include these changes, keeping the status quo for tuition remission, student loan deductions, and the lifelong learning credit.
Next week, the full House is expected to vote on their bill and the Senate Finance Committee will begin consideration of their bill. The two chambers will have to come up with a compromise bill that is approved by both chambers before any legislation is sent to the president for approval.
The Biophysical Society is following this issue closely and will let members know how to weigh in.
BPS Expresses Concern On Latest Executive Order on Immigration
The Biophysical Society joined over 80 science and engineering organizations in sending a letter to President Donald Trump in October expressing concerns about his updated executive order restricting entry to the U.S. from certain countries. In the letter, the organizations argue that the administration’s actions could diminish the U.S.’s ability to attract top talent from around the world and would weaken the nation’s science and engineering capacity. Implementation of the order has been halted nationwide by the courts. The Supreme Court was scheduled to consider an earlier version of the executive order in October but dropped the case after the updated executive order was issued. The Supreme Court has not yet indicated if it will take up the new order.
BPS Joins Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research in Asking Congress to Invest in NIH in FY 2018
BPS, along with 215 other patient, medical, scientific, academic, and research organizations of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, sent a letter to leaders in Congress urging them to pass a bicameral, bipartisan budget agreement that raises the spending caps that would allow Congress to provide NIH with $36.1 billion in FY 2018, as approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Signatories of the letter thank congressional leaders for maintaining the NIH as a key national priority but caution that “without relief from sequestration, final funding for critical federal agencies like the NIH could face significant hurdles.”
NIH Deputy Director Shares Information on NIH’s NGRI Initiative and NIH Workforce
NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Michael Lauer met with the public affairs committee during their meeting in October. He provided information on the make up the NIH workforce and how it has changed over time, as well as the Next Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI) launched by NIH this summer. Lauer has provided his slides to share.
Representative Lamar Smith Announces Retirement
Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Lamar Smith (R-TX), announced that he will not seek reelection and will retire from Congress at the end of his term. Smith has served two terms as the Chairman and would not be able to continue to serve in that capacity due to term limits set by members of the Republican Party in the House.
Roderic Prettigrew stepping down as NIBIB Director
Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has announced that he will be leaving the position mid-November to take a position at Texas A&M University. Pettigrew has led NIBIB since its inception fifteen years ago. Jill Heemskerk, who has been serving Deputy Director of the institute, will serve as Acting Director of NIBIB while a permanent replacement is found.
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