DOLLA AND A DREAM (No Seriously, I Only Have A Dollar)
One of the main stage issues in the coming 2020 election concerns the affordability of college education. Candidates like Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are leading the discussion about student loan forgiveness among democratic nominees. Bernie Sanders proposed a student loan forgiveness plan that would cancel both federal student loans and private student loans for more than 44 million student loan borrowers. His plan has no eligibility criteria: everyone, and I mean quite literally everyone’s, student loans would be forgiven. In June, Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation that would cancel student loan debt for 95% of borrowers and would entirely cancel student loan debts for 75% of Americans that have it. Her plan would also (1) cancel $50k in student loan debt for every person with a household income lower than $100k; (2) make private student loan debt eligible for cancellation; and (3) provide substantial debt cancellation for every person whose household income is between $100k and $250k.
SPOTTED *Steve Irwin Voice* A wild student tied down in the jungle by excessive student loan debt
Some other 2020 candidates have discussed student loan debt including former Vice President Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN), U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Amy Klobuchar are proposing free two-year community college. Senator Kristen Gillibrand is currently backing several proposals, including a more moderate plan that would eliminate tuition for families that make up to $125/year. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is backing debt- and tuition-free college for lower-income families, and tuition-free college for middle-income families. Lastly, Senator Kamala Harris, the Queen of the Universe and hopefully the next ruler of the free world, introduced the Debt-Free College Act, a Senate bill that would provide affordable college tuition to the 44 million Americans affected by student loan debt.
THIS COULD BE MONUMENTAL. This means everyone in America would feel the way those Morehouse students were feeling when Billionaire Robert F. Smith paid off the Class of 2019’s student loan debt as a special graduation gift. That reminds me…if he’s not married, I need to slide in his dms after I write this article. But on a serious note, all of this sounds great, but the real question is, where would the money come from to cancel student loan debt? Easy answer: T-A-X-E-S. Who would get taxed depends on the candidate. Bernie Sanders, for example, would fund his tax plan through a wall-street tax (tax all the wolves on wall street if ya know what I mean), whereas Elizabeth Warren’s would impose a tax on an estimated 0.1% of Americans with over $50 million in assets. If America were to move to a tuition free college policy, there is a likelihood that it will increase the upper idle class as well. This uncertainty is making many Americans uncomfortable because they are not entirely sure how much they will be taxed. Not only that, but these tax plans would be extremely difficult to implement because income is more easily tracked by the IRS as opposed to assets.
A lot of us are uncertain how much we would be taxed based on our incomes or assets. I know for me, someone erasing my law school student loan debt would be amazing, but if it means a higher amount of money is going to be taken out of my paycheck, then IDK. All I’m saying is, we need to pay very very very close attention to this issue in the coming election because I don’t want a candidate to be whispering sweet nothings in my ear about erasing student loan debt and then once they get into office, they just take all of the money out of my paycheck (Presidential candidates out here looking like the nuanced Gross Sisters. LMFAO).
you know the drill...HANDS UP, CASH OUT.