U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) on March 21 sponsored bipartisan legislation that would permit all graduate students employed by educational organizations to exclude tuition reductions from their gross income, action that’s now allowable under current law only for graduate students who are teaching and research assistants.
The Graduate Assistant Parity (GAP) Act, H.R. 1842, would create uniformity for all graduate students who receive reduced or waived tuition to get this tax benefit, according to Rep. Davis’ office.
“Graduate assistants who dedicate the same time and energy helping in another capacity are forced to pay higher taxes than their counterparts and I think we should change this,” Rep. Davis said.
The congressman said there are eight universities in his 13th congressional district.
“This is an important issue that was brought to me directly from graduate students at Illinois State University,” he said. “I am hoping we can work to address it by passing the GAP Act.”
Rep. Davis originally introduced the same-named H.R. 5396 in March 2018, but the bipartisan bill never made it out of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.
The newly reintroduced H.R. 1842, which has three Democratic cosponsors, also has been referred for consideration to the House Ways and Means Committee.