The United States Congress has been taking steps toward passage of a law that would dramatically modify income tax policy. At the time of this writing, different bills have been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the process of reconciling these into a single bill is under way. These have several provisions that directly affect higher education, including science training. Disturbingly, these provisions emerged from a remarkably opaque process with little or no discussion of their policy objectives or analysis of data that would inform these important decisions.