密歇根新闻广播 没有大学生买单,税改难以促进经济

 

Congress wants to present a final version of tax reform to President Donald Trump¹ by Christmas.

Many public and private colleges are hoping for some changes before the legislation reaches the president's desk.

In a statement, Mary Sue Coleman, the president of the Association of American Universities, recently outlined some of the major concerns. Coleman, who is a former president of the University of Michigan, joined Stateside to talk about her concerns.

Listen above for the entire conversation.

On taxes on tuition waivers

"There's a proposal to tax the tuition waivers that graduate students receive, and the impact of this would be to double or triple the income tax that these young people pay," Coleman said. She added that graduate students already earn a barely-livable wage. "It would simply make it impossible for many, many students to go to graduate school unless they had an independent source of wealth."

On taxes on employer educational benefits

Coleman also expressed concern about taxing employer educational benefits, which help company employees further their education by attending graduate school. The benefits are not taxed, and if they were, "again, it's another impediment for getting a more highly educated workforce², and we think that that's really negative for the global competitiveness of the country and for growth of the economy."

On excise³ taxes on endowments

Coleman is also very worried about a provision of the tax bill that would tax university endowments. While the bill is limited to private universities currently, Coleman believes it would quickly expand to public institutions too. "These endowments provide scholarships for students, they provide funds for faculty⁴ research, and if there's a tax on it, it's going to the federal government," she said. "Then fewer funds will be available, and we think that's a big negative."

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

3 excise   

n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去

参考例句：

• I'll excise the patient's burnt areas.我去切除病人烧坏的部分。
• Jordan's free trade zone free of import duty,excise tax and all other taxes.约旦的自由贸易区免收进口税、国内货物税及其它一切税收。

4 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。