@emilybee, that is sequestration, right? Isn’t that what is supposed to trigger Medicare cuts – it came up earlier today in this thread that somehow they were going to avoid those Medicare cuts, but I haven’t heard the mechanism.
CRD, yeah I do. It doesn’t help all that much though 
(but yes, every little bit).
I’ll also be a candidate in the fall where there is discounted tuition. I just ran the calculators assuming that I was an in-state pre-candidate in spring and candidate in the fall and my tax bill is “just” tripling rather than going up 5 times. That’s still several thousand dollars more than we can afford lol.
But hey, as I said, we’ll just have to make sure I’m pregnant before Dec 31st and at least we’ll get the kiddo deduction 
Re: #1358 and the automatic spending cuts listed in https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/29/upshot/paygo-medicare-cuts-tax-bill.html
Included in the cuts are $4.077 billion from Citizenship and Immigration Services, $0.318 billion from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and $1.344 billion from Customs and Border Protection. Seems like that will make legal immigration more difficult and illegal immigration easier.
@inparent, yes that is sequestration. I don’t believe anything they say re avoiding Medicare cuts (or cuts to anything else.) This is their reason for being - cutting taxes on the rich and corporations and cutting spending on social programs that disproportionately affect the middle and lower classes.
The tax cut bill will also affect state and local governments ability to fund programs.
“With a potentially far-reaching dimension, elements in both the House and Senate bills could constrain the ability of states and local governments to levy their own taxes, pressuring them to limit spending on health care, education, public transportation and social services. In their longstanding battle to shrink government, Republicans have found in the tax bill a vehicle to broaden the fight beyond Washington.”
Haha, if only that’s how it worked. 
My D was born in late December, and we were (semi)joking that if she didn’t arrive by December 30th, we were inducing. Those couple of days were worth around $700 to us.
Ah, my mistake. I’ve conflated too many things. We can get a tax deduction if we start a 529 account for the zygote:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/gop-tax-bill-is-no-place-to-address-rights-of-the-unborn-commentary.html
The trigger provision cannot go into the bill: https://www.axios.com/trigger-cant-be-used-on-senate-tax-bill-2513910723.html
“The Republican plan for a massive tax overhaul slammed into late-stage drama on Thursday as party leaders scrambled to prevent several members from derailing the entire effort.
The tension played out during a tense 62-minute standoff on the Senate floor, as Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) refused to vote with their colleagues until they had assurances that more changes could be made to the bill.
Corker and Flake had just been informed that their proposed “trigger,” a mechanism to raise taxes if economic growth came in slower than projected, would not be allowed by the Senate’s parliamentarian. So they demanded the bill be fundamentally changed to add tax revenue back into the package, a concern that had become heightened because just minutes earlier the Joint Committee on Taxation found that the plan would add at least $1 trillion to the debt over 10 years.”
So…now what?
Did those folks really think this was fiscally sound? And now…at the 11th hour they are finding out it’s not?
These people are running out country, and making decisions that could affect generations to come.
It makes me ill.
Never mind.
And regarding that tax on waivers…someone like @romanigypsyeyes is getting less than a living wage in stipend…and is now likely going to be paying that full amount for taxes if waivers are taxed.
My kid receives $1200 a YEAR as a small…as a stipend. She is NOT viewed as a school employee…is not eligible for benefits…and will get taxed on this tuition waiver. And she is NOT teaching…she is doing research, and some mentoring.
I better get a tax cut myself…because I’m going to need it to help pay her tax bills.
My self employed son might benefit from the link abouve about the loophole for expenses. But he is worried too.
It explodes the debt by a trillion bucks even with dynamic scoring. Now, let’s see whether all these politicians who lectured us about the debt and the deficit actually cared about the debt and the deficit.
Here’s hoping they annoy Corker, McCain, and Johnson so much that they pull the plug on their votes. I’m not optimistic, but all can be contrarian when they want to be, and they are getting hammered right now.
^ Loling.
I can’t believe they are literally still writing the bill while preparing for a vote.
If your daughter is not a school employee, then her tuition waiver will not be taxed.
They seem to be rewriting major portions of the bill just minutes before they vote on it. This cannot end well. “It’s not a good decision if it’s not a good process.”
Yeah, the obvious pitfall of allowing a deduction prior to birth makes that proposition unlikely.
I
They are going to pass this thing in the dead of night with no JCT score or public comment on the final version.
@thumper1, roeth may be right. Here is the statute that the House bill changes:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/117
I think it is just this last piece that the House bill eliminates:
quoteSpecial rules for teaching and research assistants
In the case of the education of an individual who is a graduate student at an educational organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) and who is engaged in teaching or research activities for such organization, paragraph (2) shall be applied as if it did not contain the phrase “(below the graduate level)”.
[/quote]
“Schedule Update: The #Senate will continue to debate H.R. 1 tonight but the next roll call votes will be at 11am on Friday.”