Obama to Drop Proposal to End ‘529’ College Savings Plans

What to White House economists was a clearheaded assessment of tax fairness has proved to be a cautionary tale for politicians focusing their efforts on the shriveling middle class and trying to overhaul and simplify the tax code.

The old gray lady is mixing her medication again.

This wasn't an overhaul. It was a surgical cut meant to hit one of the few tax free savings methods left to the middle class other than the Roth IRA (and they want that so badly they can taste it). But the irony of destroying college savings for the middle class so they could save it through free junior college was just a little too much to swallow in one shot. Expect the next time through to sneak in tighter limits on contributions, limits on who can put in money (so no more funding by grandparents, uncles, aunts and second cousins once removed) and income limitations ... all to be faaaaiiiirr.

If they were serious about overhauling and simplifying the tax code they would nuke the whole thing rather than just aim for one tax break.

WASHINGTON — President Obama, facing angry reprisals from parents and from lawmakers of both parties, will drop his proposal to effectively end popular college savings accounts known as 529s, but will keep an expanded tuition tax credit at the center of his college access plan, the White House said Tuesday.

"Reprisals"?

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