Summary
Two Republican senators and a group of funders and nonprofits stopped a planned 600% tax increase on the largest private foundations' endowments in President Trump's tax bill. The bill still increased taxes on large university endowments, but not on foundations.
Key Facts
- Two Republican senators, Todd Young and James Lankford, led the effort to remove the proposed tax increase on foundation endowments from Trump's tax legislation.
- The proposed tax would have increased from 1.39% to 10% on the investment earnings of foundations with over $5 billion in assets.
- Large universities' endowments still faced tax increases under the new law.
- Foundations like the Lilly Endowment, a major foundation based in Indiana, would have been affected by the tax change.
- Conservative groups and two senators worked together to protect the independence of private philanthropy.
- The Philanthropy Roundtable, supporting conservative ideas, opposed the proposed foundation tax.
- Instead of taxing such foundations more, some conservative leaders argue the sector should not teach certain ideas they disagree with.
- President Trump's administration considered investigating large foundations but had not announced any investigations by the given deadline.
