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May 02, 2008
Mass. legislature looks at taxing big endowments
Rosslyn Smith
Congress has been looking at the incredible growth in college endowments, an event that seems to have resulted in several institutions loosening the purse strings on tuition aid, among other things. Now it seems that the $34+ billion sitting in Harvard's accounts has attracted local political interest, too.
According to this story, the Massachusetts House of Representatives considered imposing a 2.5 percent tax on assets exceeding $1 billion in any college's endowment. The matter was sent to the state department of revenue for study, but I suspect this is not the end of the matter.
The sponsor of the proposal, Rep. Paul Kujawski, another Democrat, said in a telephone interview late Wednesday that "when you realize that you do have some institutions of higher learning where wealth has grown above and beyond where you really wouldn't imagine, you say to yourself, When does a nonprofit stop being a nonprofit? How on Earth can they possibly utilize $35 or $36 billion?"
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