{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3479", "Lipinski Leads Effort to Oppose Tax Bill Provision That Would Raise Taxes Substantially on Graduate Students and Hurt Our Economic Future", "2017-12-12", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Daniel Lipinski", "L000563", "lipinski.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) is leading a bipartisan group of 42 colleagues in opposing a provision in the House version of the tax bill that would result in a significant tax increase on graduate students.\u00a0 The current bill would eliminate the exclusion of \u201cqualified tuition reductions\u201d from taxable income.\u00a0 The effect would be to tax the value of tuition waivers that graduate students receive in exchange for serving as teaching or research assistants during their course of study.\u00a0 Tuition waivers are money that students never see, and by including it in their taxable income, some could see their tax bills double or worse.\u00a0  \u201cThe United States is one of the most innovative countries in the world thanks in no small part to our top-notch graduate education system,\u201d said Rep. Lipinski in a letter to House and Senate Leaders.\u00a0 \u201cAmerican graduate students go on to become top scientists, engineers, researchers, and leaders that generate many of the innovations that drive our economy.\u00a0 The effect of this bill would be to make graduate school unaffordable for thousands of students, lowering the research output of our universities and starving us of our next generation of professors and scientists.\u201d  The value of a tuition waiver can be significant.\u00a0 For example, graduate school tuition at Duke University is typically over $50,000 per year.\u00a0 Adding this amount to a student\u2019s taxable income would have serious tax consequences.\u00a0 With 55% of graduate students nationwide earning an adjusted gross income of $20,000 or less, and 87% earning $50,000 or less, they cannot afford a major increase in their tax burden.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3479"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8193310350179672, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}