Cotton Reintroduces Woke Endowment Security Tax Act to Tax College Endowments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
March 11, 2025

Cotton Reintroduces Woke Endowment Security Tax Act to Tax College Endowments

Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today reintroduced the Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST) Act, legislation that would institute a 6% excise tax on the endowments of 11 American universities. The revenue from the taxes—$16.6 billion—would act as a source of funding to pay down the national debt and to secure the southern border.

“Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities continue to grow massive endowments almost entirely tax-free while failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses. We should levy this tax on these schools’ endowments. A tax on the billions of dollars these schools have amassed would be more than enough to pay down our national debt or secure the southern border,” said Senator Cotton.

Full text of the bill may be found here. 

Background:

• The tax would establish a one-time, 6% tax on the 2024 value of the endowments of the universities.
• The tax applies to (1) secular institutions with endowments of at least $11.9 billion and (2) secular institutions with endowments of at least $10.5 billion that also operate a state contract college.
• Covered institutions include Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Columbia, Washington University, Johns Hopkins, and Cornell.
• Revenue is estimated at $16.6B

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