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by jjmarr·2y ago·view on hn ↗
2.5% a year on the total endowment of a university is higher than the wealth taxes of virtually every country in the world that implements them.

This wouldn't be treating them the same as trillion dollar corporations, this would be treating them worse. The original Jacobin article says:

> And unlike the federal tax, this tax would be on the schools’ total endowments, not just the income they make from it every year.

I think it's unlikely this bill will pass because if it does, it would be tax-advantaged to operate a for-profit corporation for the sole purpose of making yearly donations to a school than just giving the money to the school directly. 21% corporate federal income tax + 8% massachusetts state tax of a 5% yearly return is effectively a 1.45% tax on wealth which is a better rate than schools get (there is no corporate wealth tax in America).

Even if one agrees with taxing universities the same as any business, this particular implementation treats private universities worse than businesses.

1 comments
I think it's perfectly reasonable to treat them worse, they're a more malign influence than most trillion dollar corporations on society. Segregating by intellect and cognitive ability has been a disaster for society - I think it's a big reason for why social trust has been declining in America for the past 60+ years as elite institutions become more focused on who "deserves" admission because of "merit" rather than who their parents are (which means now it's just fuzzy proxy for parental preparedness).

It's beyond time we transfer wealth from Harvard and MIT to UMass Boston and similar schools that benefit large numbers of Massachusetts residents rather than the few.

Is there anything more to your point than "I dont like them so we should steal your money and give it to someone we like more"? I am inclined to agree, these universities are trash, but you not liking them doesnt justify stealing from them.