('Inngrea? at the ?niteh $161125 $01 20515 December 13, 2017 The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Chuck Schumer Majority Leader Minority Leader United States Senate United States Senate Washington, DC. 20515 Washington, DC. 20515 The Honorable Kevin McCarthy The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Majority Leader Minority Leader United States House of Representatives United States House of Representatives Washington, DC. 20515 Washington, DC. 20515 Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Majority Leader McCarthy and Minority Leader Pelosi, We write today to express our strong opposition to a provision in the tax reform measure currently being considered by the United States Congress. The proposed 1.4% tax on many private college and university endonents is unprecedented and poses a serious threat to higher education institutions and their ability to provide need-based ?nancial aid to their students. Placing this ?nancial burden on colleges and universities is bad policy for a number of reasons. First, this tax wrongly equates endowments to private foundations. Private foundations support charitable activities by granting funds to unrelated organizations. Colleges and universities, on the other hand, all share a primary focus providing educational opportunities for their students on their own campuses. To consider these institutions similar to private foundations, which vary in both purpose and charitable goals, is not accurate. Next, the proposal to subject only certain private colleges and universities to this tax is just the beginning. It is inevitable that the tax will be increased and applied to more colleges and universities in the future. The tax could be expanded to public institutions as well, all to raise revenue for the federal government at great cost to higher education institutions. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER This measure also jeopardizes the ?nancial aid of current and future college students. Colleges and universities use endowments to provide students with financial assistance. Taxing endowments would reduce funds available for ?nancial aid, drive up tuition costs, and jeopardize the future of private colleges and universities. How do the American people benefit from that? Additionally, the proposed endowment tax provision in the Senate tax bill is expected to generate less than $2 billion in revenue over the next ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The tax reform bill as a Whole is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over the same period. So taxing endowments would raise less than two?tenths of one percent of the revenue needed for this tax bill. Finally, the Senate tax bill would levy a tax on less than 35 colleges and universities, down from over 150 that would have been impacted under the initial House proposal. Congress would penalize a select few institutions that are in fact known for their generous awards of need?based ?nancial aid that come from their endowments. We strongly urge you to remove the tax on college and university endowments. If this is not possible, we request that you provide a credit for the financial aid given by the colleges and universities still impacted by this tax. We thank you in advance for your consideration of these requests so that students and higher education institutions are not harmed by the current tax reform proposal. Sincerely, Amucw ?aw?m Lamar Smith Leonard Lance Member of Congress Member of Congress 4 . 77?,3 Chuck Fleischmann Watsodeolema Member of Congress Member of Congress Rod Blum ohmgilberson Member of Congress . Member of Congress MM ?mr/ /Arm2i G. Eshoo Member of Congress ebbie Dinge Member of Congress Ge. Tom Cole Member of Congress John J. Faso Member of Congress Dave Trott Member of Congress Andre? Carson Member of Congress Henrgf Cuc?llar Me of Congress David Price Member of Congress ?644,374 WM Elise Stefanikl Member of Congress wW? Peter T. King Member of Congress mm Will Hurd Member of Congress .1. 74 w. andy KI Weber Member of Congress Carolyn . Maloney? Member of Congress inf/m 7% Vicente Gonzalez Kay Granger Member of Congress Member of Congress Pete Sessions avid N. Cicilline Member of Congress Member of Congress Brendan F. Boyle Tom Marino Member of Congress Member of Congress Scott Taylor Member of Congress Cc: Senator Orrin Hatch Cc: Representative Kevin Brady Cc: Senator Mike Enzi Cc: Representative Devin Nunes Cc: Senator Lisa Murkowski Cc: Representative Peter Roskam Cc: Senator John Cornyn Cc: Representative Diane Black Cc: Senator John Thune Cc: Representative Kristi Noem Cc: Senator Rob Portman Cc: Representative Rob Bishop Cc: Senator Tim Scott Cc: Representative Don Young Cc: Senator Pat Toomey Cc: Representative Greg Walden Cc: Senator Ron Wyden Cc: Representative John Shimkus Cc: Senator Bernie Sanders Cc: Representative Richard Neal Cc: Senator Patty Murray Cc: Representative Sander Levin Cc: Senator Maria Cantwell Cc: Representative Lloyd Doggett Cc: Senator Debbie Stabenow Cc: Representative Raul Grij alva Cc: Senator Robert Menendez Cc: Representative Kathy Castor Cc: Senator Tom Carper