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Rep. Stefanik happy Pres. Obama drops plan to change college savings plan’s tax-free status

Posted 2/1/15

North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik said she is pleased that President Obama has dropped a plan announced in his State of the Union address to cut the tax benefit on college savings plans. In a …

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Rep. Stefanik happy Pres. Obama drops plan to change college savings plan’s tax-free status

Posted

North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik said she is pleased that President Obama has dropped a plan announced in his State of the Union address to cut the tax benefit on college savings plans.

In a statement on the president’s change of mind, Stefanik, a Republican from Willsboro, said the plan was a new tax.

“I am happy that President Obama has changed his mind over his proposal to tax college savings plans,” Stefanik said in the statement.

“These 529 plans are an important tool to help middle class families save to attend college and it would be misguided to begin discouraging this with new taxes,” she said.

The president was urged by members of both major parties to drop that plan.

Among those asking the president to drop the proposal was New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, according to the New York Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/white-house-drops-plan-scale-back-college-savings-plans-article-1.2094592.

A White House official said the idea had been dropped because of such widespread opposition that it had become a distraction.

Stefanik, a first-term member of the House of Representatives who represents the North Country’s 21st Congressional District, has been appointed to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.