Section 529 College Savings Plans Amendments

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, as a supporter of 529 college savings plans--including the College Savings Plans of Maryland--I am pleased to support today's legislation, which makes three common sense technical changes to these valuable savings tools.

First, HR 529 makes the purchase of a computer and internet access a qualified expense for 529 accounts, reflecting the reality that computers and the internet are a modern necessity for today's college students. Second, the bill allows students who receive refunds from colleges to reinvest those refunds back into their 529 accounts, provided that reinvestment occurs within 60 days of a student leaving college. And finally, the bill eliminates the existing aggregation requirement for purposes of calculating distributions that are includible in a beneficiary's taxable income.

Mr. Speaker, unlike other tax bills that have come before us recently, today's legislation does not seek to permanently extend temporary provisions of the code without paying for that permanence--and it does not add tens of billions of dollars to the national debt. Rather, HR 529 makes several modest improvements to a program already permanently authorized in law--and it does so at a much lower cost.

Accordingly, I will cast a yes vote.

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