UPenn urges students to lobby against GOP tax plan

The University of Pennsylvania recently emailed all students to encourage them to lobby Congress against the proposed Republican tax plan.

The proposed tax plan, released by House Republicans earlier this month, would make major changes to the tax code if passed, according to The New York Times.

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UPenn President Amy Gutmann emailed all students on November 9, warning that it would impose “regressive changes” to the tax code that could have a “detrimental impact” on the school.

“These regressive changes, among other things, could eliminate the tax deduction for student loans; force graduate students to include tuition waivers as taxable income; [and] tax part of universities’ endowment income,” Gutmann warned.

Gutmann did not mention several aspects of the tax plan, including lower tax rates for certain income brackets and a nearly doubled standard deduction.

“At this pivotal moment, we urge you to express your views through social media and directly to elected officials in the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Gutmann urged, linking students to a list of contact information for federal officials.

Gutmann also added that UPenn is actively working alongside other colleges and professional groups to inform elected officials of their concerns, and to “emphasize the value to our country of support for higher education.”

[RELATED: Wealthy universities fear GOP will end their tax breaks]

The letter was also co-signed by Provost Wendell Pritchett, and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, and was originally tweeted by Grant Addison.

Campus Reform reached out to the University of Pennsylvania for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen