Some colleges have billion-dollar endowments — and now the GOP wants to tax them for it

Business Insider ^ | 11-3-2017 | Abby Jackson

[Anti-Bubba182]

House GOP leaders released sweeping tax legislation on Thursday.

Colleges and universities will pay a 1.4% excise tax on their endowment investment income if the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" is passed.

It's a big change from the current system, where college endowments are not taxed.........

[Anti-Bubba182]

I hope this part passes! Although the amount is trivial it is symbolic and the Universities are sure to scream.

[Neoliberalnot]

Hear, hear!

[Lionheartusa1]

WINNING , WINNING , WINNING !!!

[gaijin]

I think we should make it we should tell the banking industry not to accept credit card payments from the University system.

Juuust like Operation Chokepoint.

[9YearLurker]

So along with the political idiocy of raising the income tax rate (from 10% to 12%) on the first 28k that people earn, while dropping the rate paid from $300K to $1M, it’s good to see this little sliver of a shred of good tax news.

[ctdonath2]

Better to tell universities to start using that money before begging gov’t for taxpayer funds.

[harpu]

WOW...that's interesting: "So along with the political idiocy of raising the income tax rate (from 10% to 12%) on the first 28k that people earn"

I wonder how many, if any, of these 'poor souls' pay anything when it comes to actually filing their taxes?!?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So you believe in a highly-graduated income tax (”tax the rich”) just like Karl Marx in plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto?

[Lockbox]

Below is a list of the 10 universities with the largest endowments at the end of fiscal year 2016. Endowments were examined by campus, not across public university systems. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

School name (state)

Harvard University (MA) $35,665,743,000

Yale University (CT) $25,413,149,000

Stanford University (CA) $22,398,130,000

Princeton University (NJ) $21,703,500,000

Massachusetts Institute of Technology $13,181,515,000

University of Pennsylvania $10,715,364,000

Texas A&M University—College Station $9,858,672,136

University of Michigan—Ann Arbor $9,600,640,000

Columbia University (NY) $9,041,027,000

University of Notre Dame (IN) $8,748,266,000

Over 166 Billion Dollars just with the Top 10!

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

i want to see cuts in gov and gov spending before any new taxes

[The Toad]

Everyone need to pay their fair share....

[Boardwalk]

The Harvard money is insane! Tax them all!!!

[Paladin2]

For working individuals, this tax bill is a shell game with no pea.

[Combat_Liberalism]

That’s right, everybody “must pay their fair share”. Tax those liberals back into the stone age.

What a wonderful idea! For years I’ve wanted a tax that only taxed liberals. This is it!

[castlegreyskull]

I don’t understand how endowments works. I would like to think they are used to make tuition cheaper for their students.

[Chauncey Gardiner]

It’s wrong these elites were tax free while the rest of us were paying up...time to end the sham.

[KarlInOhio]

Looks like Harvard will have to put money into the most profitable investments possible: senators and representatives.

[kearnyirish2]

The endowments are set up according to the wishes of the donor; they may sponsor a certain department or position, for example. These aren’t scholarships, but endowments.

[kearnyirish2]

I know many students can’t get government money if the family has too much income or assets; does it bother you that these schools get taxpayer money while sitting on these piles of money?

[Boardwalk]

Haha. It costs 63k a year to attend and live at Harvard as an undergrad. The only scholarships go to illegals.