Senate GOP shields prominent conservative college from endowment tax

[sandensea]

Senate Republicans plan to exempt Hillsdale College, a prominent conservative institution led by a Heritage Foundation board member, from a controversial new tax on university endowments.

An amendment offered by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) — and incorporated into a package of changes Republicans unveiled Friday evening to their tax plan, H.R. 1 (115) — would exempt all colleges that don’t accept federal student aid from the endowment tax.

The school’s president, Larry Arnn, is influential in conservative intellectual circles and was floated last year as a potential pick to be President Donald Trump’s Education secretary. Arnn has served as a Heritage Foundation trustee since 2002. The school also has close ties to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Democrats blasted the move as a giveaway to a school with ties to powerful conservative donors.

“This is a very limited provision written for a very special person,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said on the Senate floor, noting the school’s connections to the DeVoses. Betsy DeVos' brother, Erik Prince, is a Hillsdale graduate, according to the college website.

At: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/senate-tax-bill-hillsdale-college-endowment-275980

[sandensea]

1. Note: This little heist was just defeated, as of 1:30, by Jeff Merkley's amendment,

By 52 to 48.