I have been saying this for years. "Harvard is a hedge fund with a university attached to it,” IMO, their endowment needs to be used for the benefit of the university and its students. Why do they charge any tuition at all? http://www.slate.com/articles/busin...-74646441&mc_cid=04a430f528&mc_eid=66ee9f08d3
Tax Harvard endowment and kiss all the scholarships to the underprivileged goodbye. Net result is forcing the underprivileged bright students to state universities. When you force bright minds to compete with average minds you get the dulling effect, not a desirable outcome.
Ah? You want to dictate an endowment what to do with its funds? How about you continue what you do best and stick to pulling the wool over unassuming retired guys that got shafted by some of your brokerage colleagues?
Oh please...affirmative action has already "forced the bright minds to compete with average minds" in the most elite universities in this country...Case in point, Asian students are docked 150 points on standardized tests because they "test too high" relative to minority applicants...Only when we accept students on merit, regardless of race, will we reverse this practice.
My daughter went to a very good, non ivy league school. In her freshman year, she had 4 suitemates. They were all valedictorians of their high school, but choose my daughter's school because they could not afford an IVY. At her school, they had either free rides or tuition free. If Harvard wants the best and the brightest, they should not charge a tuition to anyone. Plus, their tax exempt status provides them the ability to do this and still build their endowment. Sorry, this has always bugged me.
the problem is the tax code. Nobody should be tax exempt. Not a church or a college or the Red Cross.
Guess what....it's called "NON PROFIT". And why Harvard does it? Because they are not interested in attracting the brightest. They interested in attracting the most connected, networked, and the powerful or children of such. It does not hurt to fill the rest of the class with bright individuals. Why do you think Harvard's endowment is what it is today? Not sure really what bugs you, the fact that you do not understand the true motivations of the rich and powerful in your country or that you can't stand the rich getting off the hook without paying taxes....
Why? You mean you want to make the lives of volunteer and non profit organizations even harder? You should go after those who abuse such status for other purposes but should not shoot the few honest ones in the knees
if they are not making a profit they will pay no tax. It's the charitable contribution that should not be tax exempt.
So now you want to tax those that give to the needy? Ouch. I would say you should shoot your dumb average Joes in government who are too dumb to go after the real transgressors. How could Americans hide income and wealth for decades without anyone in the US justice system realizing and taking action? It took a damn whistle blower to unearth this drama. The problem in your country is loop holes that exist everywhere and that nobody has an interest in fixing ( tax excempt contributions are certainly not one of them) and political contributions. Without the latter there would not be any lobby groups either. Fix the real evil instead of hurting those who are in the game to help and aide.