Rally: Tax Amherst College’s Endowment to Support Public Education

Source: Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENO)

A rally will be held on the Amherst Town Common on Friday November 17, at Noon to support a blll in front of the Massachusetts Legislature that would mandate that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tax the endowments of all private colleges and universities in the state with endowments over $1 billion, to support the funding of pubic education in Massachusetts.

The endowment tax proposal (H. 2824) by State Representative Natalie Higgins (D. Leominster) would tax private college endowments 2.5% and redistribute that wealth to fund public education, k-12 through higher ed. It is clear that higher education institutions are underfunded, overpriced, and dealing with crumbling infrastructure, while private colleges like Harvard and Amherst College sit on billions of dollars.

This event is sponsored by the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) and the Hampshire College, Amherst College, and UMass Amherst Young Democratic Socialists of America chapters.