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President Trump released a tax proposal Wednesday that would dramatically cut both individual and corporate tax rates.
The plan is silent on many of the tax issues important to colleges, universities and their donors, employees and students, said Matt Hamill, the senior vice president for advocacy and issue analysis at the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
"Where the plan does intersect with higher education, there is a potential for some reduction in the amount of private support of colleges and universities if this were adopted as proposed."
Terry Hartle, the senior vice president of government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, said the proposal was "big, bold, expensive and vague."
"It's obvious they are anxious to put something forward so the public sees that major tax cuts are a big priority for the administration," he said.
Brian Flahaven, senior director of advocacy at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, said that by doubling the standard deduction and lowering tax rates, the White House proposal would reduce the incentive for charitable giving. That's concerning in a higher ed funding environment where both states and the federal government could be cutting back support for colleges and universities, he said. While comprehensive tax reform would affect those institutions in a variety of ways, the implications for charitable contributions were the clearest in the spare outline released Wednesday.
"Anything that discourages charitable giving to institutions is a concern of ours," Flahaven said. "It's essentially another resource that goes to institutions to help provide student aid."
