By Ben Riggleman

You’ve probably heard something about a tax bill in recent weeks. Congressional Republicans narrowly succeeded in passing different versions of a wide-ranging tax-reform bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate this past month, and are now meeting in a conference committee to put together a unified bill. The two houses of Congress are expected to vote on the final version of the bill before Dec. 22, and if they approve it, the President’s signature is assured. Sound boring? It shouldn’t, because this will affect all of us.

If you have any exposure to the liberal media, you’ve heard that this tax-reform scheme is pretty awful. Economists have almost universally come out against it — it stands to increase the federal debt by up to $1.5 trillion — and the New York Times’ editorial board called it “terrible.” You may have heard that the bill would offer huge breaks to the very wealthiest Americans while hurting the middle class in the long run, and that it could undermine the Affordable Care Act, causing up to 13 million people to lose health insurance.

But maybe all this doesn’t mean that much to you; you’re skeptical of the media establishment and academic talking heads. But please consider what college students like us stand to lose here.

The House bill is downright hostile to students. Most of us have taken out student loans. You may have been able to write off payments on student-loan interest when filing your taxes, if you earn under a certain level. But this deduction would be eliminated under the House’s version of the bill, according to USA Today. The bill would also take away a tax incentive that encourages employers to fund their workers’ continuing education. Employers will still be able to pay up to $5,250 per year of employees’ school expenses, but this money will now be taxed. So if your employer is now funding your studies at SMCC, that might not last.

As Troy Hudson reports on the front page of this issue, about 58 percent of SMCC students take classes part-time. Because the House bill would scrap the Lifetime Learning Credit program, many part-time students would lose eligibility for a tax credit of up to $2,000.

Finally, if you’re in the minority of SMCC students who plan on getting a graduate degree, you might want to think again. Most graduate students depend on stipends and tuition waivers they receive for teaching or doing research. The stipends are currently considered taxable income, but under the House plan, the reduced tuition would be, too. One graduate student wrote in the New York Times that this change “would make meeting living expenses nearly impossible, barring all but the wealthiest students from pursuing a Ph.D.”

Republicans in the Senate seem to resent college students somewhat less than do their House colleagues. However, the final bill will be a compromise between the House and Senate versions; all the nasty stuff in the House bill still stands a good chance of making it into law.

About the only good news is that Maine’s senior senator, Susan Collins, has not promised her vote to the Republicans’ final product. (She did vote for the Senate tax bill, after receiving assurances that it would be changed.) Last week, she told a CNN affiliate, “I’m going to look at what comes out of the conference committee meeting to reconcile the differences between the Senate and House bill. So, I won’t make a final decision until I see what that package is.” It is not too late to call Senator Collins, who has voted her conscience over her party before, and tell her how we feel about this incredibly bad deal. You can call her Portland office Monday through Friday at 207-780-3575.

In other news, this is the last column I’ll write as managing editor of The Beacon. I am stepping down after this semester to focus on my classes. It has been an honor to participate in keeping an SMCC tradition strong and helping student writers find their voice.