Florida Gov. Rick Scott says Yale University—along with all other Connecticut businesses—should move to Florida after Connecticut lawmakers announced plans to increase Yale’s real estate taxes.
The City of New Haven introduced legislation that makes a distinction between real estate Yale uses for educational purposes and its commercial real estate property. The new rule aims to tax the latter, which is currently untaxed since Yale is an educational institution, Business Insider reports.
(Quick sidebar: Universities are getting hip to real estate, bringing on seasoned money managers to tap into real estate. Earlier this year, the University of Michigan invested in two Sam Zell funds.)
The city’s mayor, Toni Harp, supports the idea of taxing the Ivy Leaguer on properties it makes money from.
To explain her stance, she used an example of a building Yale recently bought that—prior to Yale’s takeover—was bringing in $275k in annual taxes. Now it pays none.
Despite the threat of increased taxes (and Gov. Scott’s generous invite to the Sunshine State), Yale spokespeople say the school will not uproot from its 300-year-old campus. [BI]
