Tax the Ivies

Republicans looking for new sources of revenue to help finance further tax cuts or reduce the deficit are appropriately looking at university endowments. In so doing, they should raise their sights to include large, grantmaking nonprofit foundations.

Large university endowments remain one of the most undertaxed sources of capital in America. Entities such as Harvard and Yale sit on tens of billions of dollars, which they invest in the market just like for-profit entities do.