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A Navy veteran, expectant father and nuclear engineering graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley would see his taxes increase by $4,247. Another graduate student at Berkeley, a mother of two who is studying jurisprudence and social policy, would see her federal taxes increase by $1,647.
These are the some of the numbers that Kathy Shield, a graduate student at Berkeley, has crunched to highlight the repeal of an obscure deduction in the tax bill passed earlier this month by the House of Representatives.
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Many universities waive tuition for graduate students in exchange for research or teaching duties. The House bill contains a provision that, if included in a final tax bill, would remove a deduction on the waived tuition.
Ms. Shield, who studies nuclear engineering, and Vetri Velan, who studies particle physics, have teamed up to draw attention to the tax bill provision.
They have produced a rudimentary online calculator that students can use to calculate how their taxes will change. Mr. Velan wrote a widely circulated memo, explaining the tax provision.
Continue reading the main storyMs. Shield, who earns $35,000 a year and lives in a house in Berkeley with four roommates, says the tax increase will stretch her already strained finances.
“I limit myself to three coffees a week from coffee shops,” she said.
She said she understands that writing a tax bill is a complex task. But removing the deduction for graduate students “just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Mr. Vetri, whose taxes would increase by around 30 percent under the House tax bill, says researching the tax code was akin to exploring an alternate universe for him.
“Every physicist in the world agrees on the basic mechanics of how electrons work,” he said. “There’s a lot more ambiguity in the tax code.”
Mr. Vetri says the full impact of the tax law on graduate students will not be known until — and if — the Senate passes its bill and the two versions are merged into one. But if graduate students are hard hit, he predicts some may choose to study abroad.
“If this bill passes one of the affects you’re going to see is American graduate students going elsewhere,” he said.
° ° °California Online
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
• The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 7-4 to overturn the sale of Presidio Terrace, the exclusive street that went on the auction block after its residents failed to pay $994 in back taxes. [San Francisco Chronicle]
• A gunman holding a hostage opened fire from the eighth floor of a luxury high-rise condominium in Reno, Nev., on Tuesday. [The Associated Press]
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• NBC fired Matt Lauer over a sexual harassment allegation. The network received a detailed allegation this week of sexual harassment by its leading morning news anchor, according to an internal memo. [The New York Times]
• Hearings on sexual harassment in Sacramento: “We have rapists in this building. We have molesters among us.” [Sacramento Bee]
• Shortly after his victory last year, Donald J. Trump began revisiting one of his deepest public humiliations: the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape of him making vulgar comments about women. [The New York Times]
• Congress hasn’t renewed it and California is a few weeks away from exhausting its reserves for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. There’s no plan to replace the $2.7 billion in federal support. [KQED]
• President Trump posed for television cameras at the White House next to empty chairs after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California pulled out of a meeting. [The New York Times]
• Can’t afford an apartment in Los Angeles? Rent an RV. [KPCC]
• “Despacito” is on the verge of making Grammy history. Its the strongest contender for a non-English-language winner for song of the year since Eisenhower was president. [The Los Angeles Times]
• Each time skeptics have come forward, investors have defied them and bought more Bitcoins at higher prices. [The New York Times]
• The freewheeling internet has been dying a slow death — and a vote next month by the Federal Communications Commission to undo net neutrality would be the final pillow in its face. [The New York Times]
• He’s perfected the accent and erased every hint of his background from his speech. But since high school, actor Bambadjan Bamba carried around a secret burden he’s ready to reveal: He’s undocumented. [Los Angeles Times]
• Carol Neblett, a soprano remembered for a particularly attention-getting role in New Orleans that included full nudity, died last week at her home in Los Angeles. [The New York Times]
And Finally ...
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U.C.L.A., which has not made a top-tier bowl game since 1999, this week picked the best horse on the football coaching carousel by luring Chip Kelly to Westwood to replace the fired Jim Mora as head coach.
Mr. Kelly made Oregon a national contender as offensive coordinator and then head coach from 2007 to 2012. His absurdly fast “Blur” schemes at first seemed like quackery, but they put points on the board — 47 per game in 2010 — and have been copied by teams ranging from Ohio State to the New England Patriots. Mr. Kelly had reportedly turned down bluebloods Florida, Nebraska and Tennessee (which is having a tougher go hiring a new coach).
At a news conference Monday, Mr. Kelly addressed certain touchy subjects, including whether star quarterback Josh Rosen, a junior, will turn pro this off-season (Mr. Kelly does not know) and what he learned from a recruiting scandal at Oregon (“I take full responsibility”).
But mostly he flashed an almost Groucho Marx-style sense of humor. Asked whether his Bruins teams would have the same offense as his Oregon ones did, he replied, “No, those players have all graduated.” Don’t look now, but the Trojans may be Los Angeles’ second-coolest team. — Marc Tracy
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.
Continue reading the main story Source: http://ift.tt/2AjjnvK
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