Sinema Champions Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Arizona Students From Unfair Tax Increases

Jun 11, 2019

WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema partnered with a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce the Tax Relief for Student Success Act—commonsense legislation that fixes a problem with the 2017 tax law that unfairly raises taxes on college students who receive scholarships.

“Arizona students work hard to earn scholarships. Our bipartisan bill eliminates unfair tax increases on those students’ achievements,” said Sinema.

The Tax Relief for Students Success Act ensures that taxes don’t increase for students who receive non-tuition scholarships and grants that help them cover other college and graduate school costs such as room and board.

The bipartisan legislation fixes a problem from the 2017 tax law that causes college scholarships to be taxed at rates as high as 37%. This tax increase is especially difficult on college students, who often have very little income of their own.

Sinema also successfully secured Senate approval of a similar bipartisan bill that fixes a problem with the 2017 tax law that unfairly raised taxes on Gold Star families.

Earlier this month, Sinema partnered with Republican Senator Mike Braun (Ind.) to introduce the bipartisan Student Loan Elimination Act. This commonsense bill, endorsed by the Arizona Education Association, eliminates federal student loan origination fees to help Arizona families better afford college.