Tax plans fail to accommodate students

While the American tax code currently reaches pages into the thousands, with new rules only increasing its size, both plans have failed to accommodate young people — mainly college students.

College students across the country are raking up enormous amounts of debt in the form of student loans. Student loans, like the Federal Stafford Loan, all accrue interest. The unsubsidized loans begin tacking on interest the day students receive them, whereas the subsidized loans don’t accrue interest until graduation.

Either way, students are still paying a fair amount of interest, and in these tough economic times, when finding a job may be difficult, paying the principal of a loan is hard enough.

So we have two suggestions for our national legislators: Allow students to write off their interest on student loans, or grant some form of credit or write-off for tuition costs.

Both are feasible, after all, anyone who owns a home is allowed to write off the interest paid on their mortgage. The first year’s payments on a mortgage is nearly all interest that amounts to a huge write off. Mortgage interest rates are at an all time low, comparable to student loan rates. So why not help out those who will some day own a home? If they can ever pay off their student loans to afford a home.

Earned income tax credit gives low-income families a different set of guidelines to file taxes often resulting in poorer families paying little or no federal income tax at all. The EITC gives low earners a series of write-offs and credits. Students tend to be low earners, too, so a tuition credit would definitely help those who pay their own way through college.

Republicans and Democrats do not agree on much, but they do agree on two things: a tax cut is necessary, and economic stimulus is a must. How to do it, however, is a matter to be hashed out in Congress. But both parties have failed a big group of tax paying, voting citizens who could use a break. Students.

University Wire – Columbia College