Cotton Proposes ‘Woke’ Tax on University Endowments to Pay for Aid to Ukraine, Israel, and the Border

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Tuesday will introduce the “Woke Endowment Security Tax Act,” which would impose a one-time tax on the endowments of 10 American universities to fund aid to Ukraine, Israel, and securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The WEST tax would impose a six percent excise on the 2022 value of the endowments, and raise $15.47 billion.

Cotton said in a statement:

Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities are failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses. We should levy this tax on these schools’ endowments. A tax on the billions of dollars these schools have amassed would be more than enough to pay for our aid to Israel or security for the southern border.

The tax would apply to universities with endowments of at least $12.2 billion and universities with endowments of at least $9 billion that also operate a state college contract. The covered universities would include Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Columbia, Washington University, and Cornell.

The tax proposal follows the presidents of several elite universities coming under fire for refusing to sufficiently stand up against antisemitism on campus, amid a military campaign by Israel against Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.

Hamas conducted a mass terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, that killed more than 1,000. Hamas also kidnapped over 200, holding them hostage and only releasing about 100.

Young progressives across the U.S. have protested against Israel’s military campaign, arguing it is disproportionate to Hamas’s brutal attack, where many of the victims were women, children, and elderly.

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on ”X”, Truth Social, or on Facebook.