Taxing students’ tuition waivers is unfair

All of my children had research assistantships in grad school, which paid them a (taxable) stipend and also gave them a tuition waiver — that is, reduced tuition, which is non-taxable. Now the U.S. House wants to count this tuition reduction that many graduate students receive as taxable income; that’s one of the differences that negotiators are working out between the House and Senate tax bills.

If the House prevails, students receiving no actual money will have a tax bill, big time. Tax reform? Why?

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Taxing students’ tuition waivers is unfair."