My sibling is a Grad Student too, their response: Bring on the whiskey and the tax. Yeah, it is going to hurt grad programs, but no current student is going to

My sibling is a Grad Student too, their response: Bring on the whiskey and the tax. Yeah, it is going to hurt grad programs, but no current student is going to have their already pitiful stipend get lessened (think 30k/year in Boston, after 'tuition' takes it's cut), the programs will take the hit for the current students. But the tax is a good thing, as it'll finally reveal the shit that is grad life. If it goes through, grad programs are about to be a LOT more competitive. Whatever the increase is in tax, that is how many less students get taken in (averaged over all states, things get complicated). Things at UCLA, MIT, and other big metros are already very tight for grad students, 4 to a 1 bedroom, and barely any $ for needed beer on Friday. It's unlikely the funding will improve at all to begin with, so future students will still be haggard, but there will be less of them. In talking with them, if the schools don't pick up the costs, it's time to unionize, as they have no other options. Yeah, it'll nuke their careers, get them kicked out, but it's that or quit as it. What do they have to loose?