Federal stimulus package ignores a group who seriously needs it — college students
Eric Boose / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is the largest emergency relief package in American history, and nestled within $2 trillion of government spending is a $1,200 check for qualifying Americans. The check is meant to be an advance tax credit to offset 2020 federal income taxes, at least according to Business Insider. It will certainly be a relief, if only a small one, to those Americans who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, who are no longer earning a paycheck, or who are under any elevated financial stress thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
It would also certainly be a relief to many college students, especially those with bills to pay and those who depended on a job they are likely no longer working at. Even students who just want to pay down some student debt while still in school were surely celebrating when news of the individual stimulus broke. However, most college students will not be receiving any money from the government.
One of the qualifications for receiving an “economic impact payment” from the IRS is that you must not be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s taxes. Any dependent who is 16 years old or older is ineligible to receive a payment. In the eyes of the law, then, most college students are very much still their parents’ children. Except, we are not that either. Certain parents will receive $500 per dependent, so long as that dependent is younger than 16. Overall, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that around 30 million Americans — high school and college students, as well as some older and disabled Americans — will get no money from the federal government because of their status as adult dependents. That means no money in their pockets, and no money in their parents’ or caretaker’s pockets either.
Leaving 30 million Americans out of a historic relief package because of a minor complexity in U.S. tax law seems to be one of the more avoidable errors Congress could make in the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These forgotten Americans are not people who will do just fine without a personal stimulus check. Some college-age students still have to pay rent, pay for utilities, and buy groceries; some will have to do so after losing shifts at work, or even losing work all together. Others are back under their parents’ roofs two or three months early, increasing their parents’ utility and food costs. In the grand scheme of things, forgetting these 30 million Americans stands out as one of, if not the single most glaring oversight or misstep in the entire law.
On balance, the CARES Act is well built. Small businesses, those with 500 employees or fewer, can take out loans from a designated $367 billion pool, and there is another $150 billion reserved for loans to state and local governments. The states will also split $400 million in additional funding specifically for voting initiatives, including making up for primary elections suspended due to COVID-19. Another $100 billion will go straight to hospitals, with additional billions to fund the purchase of testing supplies and medical equipment. Jobless benefits will also be expanded, as jobless claims have skyrocketed as the virus spread. All of these things are good, but they do not add up to the $2 trillion in spending.
The act reserves $500 billion in loans for struggling businesses, and Business Insider notes that President Donald Trump has “repeatedly hinted” that much of that will go to Boeing. If it does, it will only be part of a major bailout of the airline industry. An additional $50 billion in aid is designated solely to passenger airlines. After being denied any personal stimulus checks, the apparent bailout of the airline industry has raised objections from some young Americans — especially those who recall being told that they should be saving for unforeseen medical emergencies. There is a sentiment, albeit mostly confined to Twitter, that maybe the airlines should have been saving for an unforeseen medical emergency. It certainly would have saved the government some money if they had been.