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Harvard currently has a $52 billion endowment on which it pays no tax: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/business/harvard-endowment-trump.html https://www.nyti

by _zagj 1y ago

Harvard currently has a $52 billion endowment on which it pays no tax: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/business/harvard-endowment-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/business/harvard-endowmen... Why are progressives not bothered more by this?

WalterGR 1y ago
Because they know what an endowment is, how they're used, what a 501(c)(3) nonprofit is, and very generally the tax rules around such nonprofits. I can provide links if you'd like to learn. I'm just on mobile right now and it's a pain. It would help, though, if you could describe in what way people should be bothered.
- _zagj 1y ago
  > what a 501(c)(3) nonprofit In the case of Harvard and many other institutions, it's a tax-dodge, and nothing more. Same thing with non-profit hospitals whose administrators pay themselves seven-figure salaries.
  - Braxton1980 1y ago
    Ok and? What does this article have to do with nonprofits in general? Also the board of the nonprofit sets salaries for admin
  - wasabi991011 1y ago
    According to the article you linked: > ... the National Association of College and University Business Officers issues a report on ... where the money [endowments] generate ends up. ... About 48 percent of investment income went to student aid ... about a quarter of the money ... went to academic programs and maintaining facilities. To claim it's a "tax dodge, and nothing more" without elaborating is absurd. I won't argue further with someone more interested in inflammatory statements than actually discussing.
    - _zagj 1y ago
      > About 48 percent of investment income went to student aid How much of that "student aid" just covers some of the astronomical tuition Harvard charges?
      - WalterGR 1y ago
        That's something that you can look up. Not "you" in the "some person" sense, but literally you. I suggest doing that. Your ‘arguments’ are falling flat because you don't have any facts, don't seem to be interested in learning any, and are just venting your personal feelings, which are neither compelling nor merely interesting.
  - WalterGR 1y ago
    > it's a tax-dodge, and nothing more. Same thing with non-profit hospitals whose administrators pay themselves seven-figure salaries. What do you mean by tax dodge, in this context? How familiar are you with taxes? Off the top of my head, people who work for non-profits have to pay withholdings and income taxes, just like the rest of us. Generally, 'business' expenses for both non-profit and for-profit organizations (whether a McDonalds, university, church) are tax-deductible. Tax rules differ between states, but being a non-profit doesn't automatically exempt you from collecting and forwarding other forms of tax, such as sales tax.
    - _zagj 1y ago
      They pay no corporate income or capital gains tax.
      - WalterGR 1y ago
        Well, right. In that case, all non-profits are "tax dodges" using the literal interpretation of the words. But tax dodge usually implies something unsavory... Is the issue that you don't think that any university - or perhaps specifically Harvard? - should be granted non-profit status? If that’s the case, then I'm curious what you think about the same question for religion-affiliated universities and non-profit organizations whose missions you agree with?
        _zagj 1y ago
        > all non-profits are "tax dodges" No, some of them operate like genuine non-profits by promoting some public good and compensate their executives only modestly. For example, the Salvation Army.
        p_ing 1y ago
        Education is a supreme public good. If our society lacks education we end up having people question the utility of 501(c)(3) status of universities.
        1y ago
  - rsynnott 1y ago
    ... Are you suggesting that Harvard is a for-profit enterprise? Do you think it pays dividends or something?
tptacek 1y ago
They should use their endowment to mitigate this. People should be concerned about that. But (1) other schools aren't in that position, and (2) whether or not the Harvard admin makes the right calls, we either are or aren't funding cancer research; we should be angry at anybody compromising that.
- pasttense01 1y ago
  They will to a certain extent, but the substantial majority of the funds are restricted (for example buy art for the museum).
  - tptacek 1y ago
    They have over $10Bn in unrestricted endowments, and both the unrestricted and restricted funds grow with the market.
hello_moto 1y ago
People have issues with Universities for many years regardless of the Presidents. People have screamed that Universities tuition fees are too expensive for the RoI. It’s a separate bipartisan issue.
southernplaces7 1y ago
That's absolutely worth a serious debate, but that endowment falls well within existing laws for how universities are allowed to accumulate and govern their finances. You know what doesn't fall within the rubric of existing laws (or things that anyone who respect the rule of law and controlled government should be comfortable with)? Trump unilaterally using the federal agencies under his control to vengefully, punitively attack a major public institution just because he wants it to do whatever his latest personal tantrum has dictated. His whimsical funding cuts are indeed illegal (1) and even if you agree with the government not funding certain institutions in certain ways, i'd call it a bad fucking idea to claim that the president should break his government's own federal laws to do so. 1 https://www.thefire.org/news/faq-responding-common-questions-about-fight-between-harvard-and-trump-administration https://www.thefire.org/news/faq-responding-common-questions...
Braxton1980 1y ago
Bothered by harvard having a tax free endowment or all universities ?
spinarrets 1y ago
Who says progressives aren't bothered by this? Every leftist I know believes that education should be free and universally accessible. That holding capital (especially with the intent to make more capital, which is what an endowment is) is morally wrong. And that we should tax wealthy people and corporations to fund things like healthcare and education. Constructing a strawman like this (inventing a position that progressives do not hold) and then trying to point out the hippocracy in that position is classic logical fallacy territory.
krapp 1y ago
Progressives are busy being bothered by other things like transgender and autistic people being demonized, womens' rights being repealed, resegregation, the return of child labor, Nazis being cool apparently, the chilling effect of right-wing oppression and censorship causing the erasure of gay, female and non-white people from history and the public record, book bans and the whole "kidnapping political dissidents to foreign concentration camps" thing. But sure, we can add "rich assholes don't pay enough taxes" to the pile if you want. Better question is why aren't conservatives bothered by any of this?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
ahazred8ta 1y ago
Do you know of ANY countries where universities have to pay capital gains taxes on their endowments?
biimugan 1y ago
They are bothered by it. But the anti-liberal, extra-judicial, law-ignoring method this administration is levying against Harvard is also being levied against many, many other progressive priorities and interests worth even more than taxes on a $52B trust fund.

by _zagj 1y ago

WalterGR 1y ago

Because they know what an endowment is, how they're used, what a 501(c)(3) nonprofit is, and very generally the tax rules around such nonprofits. I can provide links if you'd like to learn. I'm just on mobile right now and it's a pain. It would help, though, if you could describe in what way people should be bothered.

_zagj 1y ago
> what a 501(c)(3) nonprofit In the case of Harvard and many other institutions, it's a tax-dodge, and nothing more. Same thing with non-profit hospitals whose administrators pay themselves seven-figure salaries.
- Braxton1980 1y ago
  Ok and? What does this article have to do with nonprofits in general? Also the board of the nonprofit sets salaries for admin
- wasabi991011 1y ago
  According to the article you linked: > ... the National Association of College and University Business Officers issues a report on ... where the money [endowments] generate ends up. ... About 48 percent of investment income went to student aid ... about a quarter of the money ... went to academic programs and maintaining facilities. To claim it's a "tax dodge, and nothing more" without elaborating is absurd. I won't argue further with someone more interested in inflammatory statements than actually discussing.
  - _zagj 1y ago
    > About 48 percent of investment income went to student aid How much of that "student aid" just covers some of the astronomical tuition Harvard charges?
    - WalterGR 1y ago
      That's something that you can look up. Not "you" in the "some person" sense, but literally you. I suggest doing that. Your ‘arguments’ are falling flat because you don't have any facts, don't seem to be interested in learning any, and are just venting your personal feelings, which are neither compelling nor merely interesting.
- WalterGR 1y ago
  > it's a tax-dodge, and nothing more. Same thing with non-profit hospitals whose administrators pay themselves seven-figure salaries. What do you mean by tax dodge, in this context? How familiar are you with taxes? Off the top of my head, people who work for non-profits have to pay withholdings and income taxes, just like the rest of us. Generally, 'business' expenses for both non-profit and for-profit organizations (whether a McDonalds, university, church) are tax-deductible. Tax rules differ between states, but being a non-profit doesn't automatically exempt you from collecting and forwarding other forms of tax, such as sales tax.
  - _zagj 1y ago
    They pay no corporate income or capital gains tax.
    - WalterGR 1y ago
      Well, right. In that case, all non-profits are "tax dodges" using the literal interpretation of the words. But tax dodge usually implies something unsavory... Is the issue that you don't think that any university - or perhaps specifically Harvard? - should be granted non-profit status? If that’s the case, then I'm curious what you think about the same question for religion-affiliated universities and non-profit organizations whose missions you agree with?
      - _zagj 1y ago
        > all non-profits are "tax dodges" No, some of them operate like genuine non-profits by promoting some public good and compensate their executives only modestly. For example, the Salvation Army.
        p_ing 1y ago
        Education is a supreme public good. If our society lacks education we end up having people question the utility of 501(c)(3) status of universities.
        1y ago
- rsynnott 1y ago
  ... Are you suggesting that Harvard is a for-profit enterprise? Do you think it pays dividends or something?

tptacek 1y ago

They should use their endowment to mitigate this. People should be concerned about that. But (1) other schools aren't in that position, and (2) whether or not the Harvard admin makes the right calls, we either are or aren't funding cancer research; we should be angry at anybody compromising that.

pasttense01 1y ago
They will to a certain extent, but the substantial majority of the funds are restricted (for example buy art for the museum).
- tptacek 1y ago
  They have over $10Bn in unrestricted endowments, and both the unrestricted and restricted funds grow with the market.

hello_moto 1y ago

People have issues with Universities for many years regardless of the Presidents. People have screamed that Universities tuition fees are too expensive for the RoI. It’s a separate bipartisan issue.

southernplaces7 1y ago

That's absolutely worth a serious debate, but that endowment falls well within existing laws for how universities are allowed to accumulate and govern their finances. You know what doesn't fall within the rubric of existing laws (or things that anyone who respect the rule of law and controlled government should be comfortable with)? Trump unilaterally using the federal agencies under his control to vengefully, punitively attack a major public institution just because he wants it to do whatever his latest personal tantrum has dictated. His whimsical funding cuts are indeed illegal (1) and even if you agree with the government not funding certain institutions in certain ways, i'd call it a bad fucking idea to claim that the president should break his government's own federal laws to do so. 1 https://www.thefire.org/news/faq-responding-common-questions-about-fight-between-harvard-and-trump-administration https://www.thefire.org/news/faq-responding-common-questions...

Braxton1980 1y ago

Bothered by harvard having a tax free endowment or all universities ?

spinarrets 1y ago

Who says progressives aren't bothered by this? Every leftist I know believes that education should be free and universally accessible. That holding capital (especially with the intent to make more capital, which is what an endowment is) is morally wrong. And that we should tax wealthy people and corporations to fund things like healthcare and education. Constructing a strawman like this (inventing a position that progressives do not hold) and then trying to point out the hippocracy in that position is classic logical fallacy territory.

krapp 1y ago

Progressives are busy being bothered by other things like transgender and autistic people being demonized, womens' rights being repealed, resegregation, the return of child labor, Nazis being cool apparently, the chilling effect of right-wing oppression and censorship causing the erasure of gay, female and non-white people from history and the public record, book bans and the whole "kidnapping political dissidents to foreign concentration camps" thing. But sure, we can add "rich assholes don't pay enough taxes" to the pile if you want. Better question is why aren't conservatives bothered by any of this?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

ahazred8ta 1y ago

Do you know of ANY countries where universities have to pay capital gains taxes on their endowments?

biimugan 1y ago

They are bothered by it. But the anti-liberal, extra-judicial, law-ignoring method this administration is levying against Harvard is also being levied against many, many other progressive priorities and interests worth even more than taxes on a $52B trust fund.