Proposed tax on private college endowments will hurt students

Rep. Jason Lewis’ case for taxing private college endowments by comparing them to private foundations is misleading and misguided.

By Terry W. Hartle, Washington, D.C.

Nov. 15, 2017

Re: “The GOP’s proposed college endowment tax is bad news for Minnesota’s Carleton and Macalester,” by Sam Brodey.

Your story on the proposal by House Republicans to impose an excise tax on the endowments of some private colleges and universities, including Carleton and Macalester, appropriately notes that doing so would limit these institutions’ abilities to provide financial assistance to low- and middle-income students.

Rep. Jason Lewis’ case for taxing private college endowments by comparing them to private foundations is misleading and misguided. To wit:

• Private foundations are very different from college endowments. Foundations exist to give away money while higher education endowments exist to financially support academic institutions in perpetuity. A federal tax on endowments simply means they will have less money for such vital things as student aid, faculty salaries, and scientific research.

• College and university endowments do not benefit from a “carve out” in the tax code. They have not been taxed heretofore because they are nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations.

• Only endowments held by colleges and universities are taxed. Other nonprofits with substantial endowments — like art museums — are not targeted.

If this were really about treating foundations and endowments alike under the tax code, it would be structured differently. The truth is that this provision is nothing more than a way to help pay for corporate tax cuts. If this plan is approved, colleges and their students will have less money and corporations will have more.

Terry W. Hartle is a senior vice president, American Council on Education (ACE), Washington, D.C. ACE represents the presidents of nearly 1,800 colleges and universities and related associations.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor. The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.