On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on her colleagues in the Senate to reduce interest rates for Americans crushed by student loan debt, and pay for it by closing tax loopholes for the rich.
Last summer, after a rancorous debate, Congress passed a law setting interest rates for new student loans for undergrads at 3.86 percent for the coming year. (Rates were set to double to 6.8 percent.) However, the legislation did not cut interest rates for those who took out the same type of loan before July 1 of last year. Americans who financed their education earlier than that are paying off debt with interest rates of 7, 8, or 9 percent. On Wednesday, Warren joined Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a speech on the Senate floor to highlight her plan to introduce legislation that would allow Americans with high-interest student loan debt to refinance their loans at the new rates being offered to first-time borrowers this year.
“Refinancing those old loans would lower interest rates to 3.86 percent for undergraduate loans,” Warren said. “This is real money back in the pockets of people who invested in their education. Real money that will help young people find a little more financial stability as they work hard to build their futures. Real money that says that America invests in those who work to get an education.”
Warren proposed that the rate cut be paid for by closing tax loopholes for the rich. “Right now, this country essentially taxes students—by charging high interest rates that bring money into the government—while at the same time we give away far more money through a tax code riddled with loopholes and let the wealthiest individuals and corporations avoid paying a fair share,” Senator Warren said. “We can close those loopholes and put the money directly into refinancing student loans.”
The senator said the Buffet Rule—part of a tax plan proposed by President Barack Obama that would eliminate tax loopholes for the wealthy to ensure that billionaires pay at least as much in taxes as their secretaries—would be a good place to start. Many of the wealthy end up paying a lower tax rate because they earn income through investments, for example, which is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent. Meanwhile, an average head of household who makes $50,000 pays about 25 percent of her income in taxes. The Buffet Rule would require millionaires to pay an effective tax rate of at least 30 percent of their gross income.
Last year, during the debate over what to do with skyrocketing student loan rates, Warren introduced her own bill that would have cut need-based undergrad loan interest rates to the same low 0.75 percent interest rate that banks pay to the Federal Reserve for short-term loans. The bill was never brought up for a vote. Warren voted against the compromise plan that Obama signed into law in August, which allows interest rates on undergrad loans to fluctuate all the way up to 8.25 percent.
