10 of the largest endowments in N.E. - Boston.com.
This slideshow lists 10 of the top 11 university endowments in New England (MIT did not reply). They range from Harvard's $25.62 billion down to Smith College's mere $1.09 billion.
It strikes me as odd that the homeowners and businesses in each of their home towns and cities are asked to subsidize them by exempting their landholdings from the local tax base.
This is particularly stark since relatively few of the students at these universities are graduates of the local high schools.
This slideshow lists 10 of the top 11 university endowments in New England (MIT did not reply). They range from Harvard's $25.62 billion down to Smith College's mere $1.09 billion.
It strikes me as odd that the homeowners and businesses in each of their home towns and cities are asked to subsidize them by exempting their landholdings from the local tax base.
This is particularly stark since relatively few of the students at these universities are graduates of the local high schools.
Cui bono?
And who pays?
What a subsidy, often from poor people to rich ones.
And it makes one think of the wisdom of Leona Helmsley.
Urban land is our most valuable resource, and those who occupy it ought to be compensating their neighbors. Universities are large, and often growing, landholders, forcing out tax-paying neighbors, and increasing the share of the burden of supporting municipal services paid by the remaining non-exempts.
Solution? Exempt the buildings, but require such entities to pay their full share of the tax burden based on the value of their land. (Exempt everyone else's buildings, too, of course!)
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