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The GOP tax bill could be a disaster for PhD students (vox.com)
3 points by ssalazar on Nov 7, 2017 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments


This analysis has been circulating various mailing lists at MIT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e3oIk8AO9F_UL98z5cieKha1V5e...

As a summary, a RA at berkeley would experience a ~60% increase in federal taxes while a RA at MIT would experience a ~240% increase in federal taxes. In addition to that it bumps up any additional income you try to earn to a high marginal tax rate.

I can't believe they found a way to make doing a phd even more financially unattractive. It seems that this will either have a significantly adverse impact on STEM phd programs or the colleges will just figure out some different way to structure the tuition waivers.


Previous discussions:

GOP tax bill would tax tuition waivers for grad students (chronicle.com)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15622544 (122 comments)

The GOP Tax Plan Will Destroy Graduate Education (forbes.com)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15646571 (97 comments)




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