Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems for Harvard
Harvard University has a lot of money, which is good for Harvard. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the other hand, does not have much dough kicking around these days. While the state holds together its infrastructure with silly putty and prayer, Harvard is sitting on a huge tax-free nest egg and is slowly expanding its empire campus into Allston.
Having already tapped smokers to help float its budget, Beacon Hill is now hinting that it wants rich schools like Harvard to pitch in a little.
If the Longfellow Bridge crumbles into the Charles, aren’t the odds good that a Harvard or MIT student would be affected?
“It’s mind boggling that one entity not paying taxes has $34 billion. How do you justify that?” said [Rep. Paul] Kujawski, who serves on the influential House Ways and Means Committee. “When people can’t afford to live. How do you justify not taxing them?”
Let’s ask the staff of the Harvard Crimson, shall we?
This proposed taxation of 2.5 percent would have come with deleterious effects, and it is a relief, therefore, that it did not come to pass. These harmful byproducts could have included the discouragement against donations to the University and the disincentive for universities to make charitable contributions.
Step away from the thesaurus, kids.
Once you take away all the verbosity, the argument is that the college won’t stay ridiculously wealthy if alumni think the state may get its hands on a few bucks of their huge donations. But once you point out that a portion of their money went to ridiculous stuff like this, will they really mind so much?
May 8th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
While there’s a lot to be said for the contributions that colleges and universities make to a community (after having come back from Amherst to the South Shore the difference is startling) those have to be weighed against the costs that stem from those institutions.
These institutions give Boston jobs and a certain cultural cachet, but they (and their students) also consume government services paid for by taxation.
If a growing portion of a state or municipality’s wealth is removed from the tax base (granted largely for legitimate nonprofit purposes), the burden of providing those services falls onto everyone else.
Of course, it’s hard to hand tax incentives over to private businesses and turn around with a hand out to storied nonprofits without some intensive cognitive dissonance.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
The solution is easy. Cambridge should conveniently not fix the roads surrounding the the entrances that the school president, or professors use to park their cars (because heaven forbid they take the T). Then start conveniently forgetting to make repairs at the Harvard Square stop…I mean…it is a very nice T stop in comparison to lets say… Arlington? Boylston? etc.
And if the police presence in Harvard Square suddenly drastically declines to nonexistent? And theft and crime rise? Shucks, that would be a shame.
Colleges and Universities continually stress their importance to surrounding communities by providing jobs and culture to the community. But they forget that the community is also providing benefits to them - via roads, utilities, safety personal, emergency response, plowing, street cleaning, and access to their university.