Stanford University opposes Trump's endowment tax levied on private colleges

Stanford University is opposing a new income tax to be levied on US private colleges for the first time, which could cost the university up to 42.9 million US dollars in endowment tax, a Stanford newspaper reported.

The tax, which is part of a taxation overhaul initiated by US President Donald Trump's administration in 2017, will hurt the university's ability to fund students and academic missions, the Stanford Daily, a student-run newspaper that focuses on news in the Stanford community, quoted university spokesperson Dee Mostofi as saying on Friday.

"Stanford strongly opposes the tax and is actively working on efforts to repeal or limit the tax," Mostofi told the newspaper.

"Over time, the tax will reduce funds available from the endowment to support financial aid and other essential support for our core academic mission," Mostofi said.

The year 2020 will be the first fiscal year that Stanford, which is the third-richest US private college with an endowment of 27.7 billion dollars, will begin to pay for the multi-million-dollar tax on its net investment income at a rate of 1.4 per cent.

The tax, which was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in December 2017, will affect about 30 colleges across the United States.