Tax plan should keep tax break for employer-provided education assistance

After reading the recent article, “Cortez Masto, Flake propose bill for education aid tax break,” I was surprised to learn that the House tax bill would eliminate employer-provided education assistance. Prior to tax reform getting underway, Sens. Cortez Masto and Flake (and their counterparts in the House) had proposed increasing this benefit from $5,250 a year to $11,500 and indexing that amount for inflation. The current amount ($5,250) has never been increased in the nearly 40 years the provision has been in place.

As a working, single mother, I currently rely heavily on my employer’s tuition assistance benefit in obtaining my master’s degree. I’m not wealthy or affluent. I’m a middle-class American looking to advance my education and make a better life for myself and my family. While I’m lucky that my employer pays 100 percent of my tuition costs, I still pay tax on the amount over $5,250, as it is considered taxable income. If the House bill becomes law, I would pay taxes on the entire benefit.

Luckily, the Senate’s tax proposal preserves tuition assistance. I’m carefully watching as these two bills will now be reconciled — I hope that my senators will fight to not only keep the provision in the final package, but to expand the amount of assistance. Without my employer’s tuition assistance, I would not be able to get my degree — the costs are just too high.

I’ve heard much in the media about the elements of tax reform that generally get a lot of attention — individual tax brackets, the corporate tax rate and the state and local tax deductions. What I don’t hear about are little provisions, such as the employer-provided tuition assistance, that could potentially be eliminated and what it means to Nevadans like me.