New Taxes For Thee–But NOT For Me

The Wall Street Journal posted an editorial today about one of the President’s new tax proposals. The proposal would take away the tax breaks for families saving for their children’s college education. The 529 plans have been a way for families to save for college, and if the money was spent on educational expenses, it was not taxed when it was withdrawn from the plan. The money in these plans has already been taxed, and the President intends to tax it again when it is withdrawn (before it can be used to fund higher education).

There is  however, a very interesting aspect of this proposal–money that has already been put in these plans would be exempt from the new tax. Sounds reasonable, right?

The editorial reports:

According to a 2009 report in the Journal, in 2007 “the Obamas took advantage of a unique feature of 529 plans that allows account owners to front-load five years’ worth of contributions, $240,000 in total for the two girls.” No doubt these investments took a hit during the financial crisis. But given the stock market recovery since the spring of 2009, we imagine the Obama family has built educational resources that most middle-class families can only dream of.

We would compliment the President on his financial planning and thoughtful parenting in building up these assets tax-free. But his latest policy proposal makes us wonder why he won’t let the next generation of savers do the same.

Taxes for thee–but not for me.