Harvard University Denied Tax Cut After Lobbying Senate Democrats

Harvard University’s request for an endowment tax cut was denied despite frequent lobbying to Senate Democrats for its inclusion in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 with tax increases on corporations and energy firms but did not include plans to lower the endowment tax, which is tax paid on income from individual donors to colleges, according to the bill.  Senior Executive Director of Federal Relations at Harvard University Suzanne Day sent an email in July urging Democratic Senators to eliminate the tax in the upcoming bill.

Harvard is the most affected by the endowment tax as their endowment is $53.2 million, the largest in the nation.

“I write to urge you to engage with Democratic senators and allies to press for action on this in the pending FY22 reconciliation bill. We believe this is one of our best chances for improvement in this policy,” Day said in an email. “This would transform the existing provision from a politically motivated, damaging tax on charitable resources to a family-centered policy making college more affordable without debt. We believe this approach puts the reform of the endowment tax clearly within the framework for the new reconciliation bill that is being negotiated.”

Republicans introduced the tax on colleges in 2017, which requires nearly 100 colleges with an endowment of more than $500,000 per student to pay a 1.4% tax on their investment income. In May 2021, Republican Congressman Tom Cotton proposed the Ivory Tower Tax Act to increase the yearly tax on colleges by a total of $2 billion.

Harvard and Day did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.