"No 20-Year Deal and No Gag Order” Petition
Appeal from John Graves Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 9:30 AM
Dear Reader, if you agree with this petition, please forward your name and address to John Graves at johngraves319@gmail.com
"No 20-Year Deal and No Gag Order” Petition:
Cornell is once again throwing its weight around. They have offered a 20-year agreement tied to the cost-of-living index. This means that in 20 years their contribution of $4M will have even less worth than it does today. And in 2044, it will still equal less money than many peer institutions are giving their host communities now in 2023.
This is a proposal of diminishing returns that should have never left the closed-door negotiating room.
Perhaps most troubling is that this agreement ties the city’s hands and potentially residents’ hands as well from pursuing legislative and legal remedies, which we all know are ultimately what are needed. Clause 6 in the agreement is basically a gag order.
Multi-billion-dollar corporations don’t part with their money until they’re forced to do it. Don’t tie our hands! There are several avenues to pursue in this arena: changes on the state level that would allow taxation of property that does not fall into a strictly educational category, like in New Hampshire where dormitories are taxed along with dining halls, cafes, the campus store, the school hotel, etc. We want to be free to lobby for this change in NYS. It’s long overdue.
Then there is the endowment tax. Only the richest schools, about 40 in total, are subject to this tax. If your endowment equals more than $500,000 per student, you are now liable to pay the federal government a 1.4% excise tax.
What if that money or a portion of it were to be sent to local host communities instead of the federal treasury. This would be a national effort we could spearhead. Cornell’s 2021 endowment return was 41.9%, apparently larger than a typical return. They made $2.8B. Looks like it would have been a $39M tax bill for them that year payable to the feds. Yes, all the schools subject to this now have been lobbying for several years to get this repealed. Opposing bills increasing the amount of the tax have also been introduced.
Then there’s the legal challenge that involves the commercialization of research. Cornell posted revenue of $37M last year from royalties. Tax free. This is what the Princeton lawsuit was based on.
https://thedailyrecord.com/2016/10/17/princeton-will-pay-18m-to-settle-residents-tax-case/
Citizens challenged Princeton’s non-profit status based on the revenue it receives from licenses, royalties and patents. All big research institutions are vulnerable to this and as the collective Ivy League endowment continues to balloon, this issue will become ever more debated. In 25 years, it is estimated that the Ivy League combined endowments will topple $1TRILLION.
Let’s tell City Hall - No 20-Year Deal and No Gag Order!
Go back to the drawing board and demand a short-term deal, short-term as in 2 years and tell Cornell we will not agree to having our hands tied. We must not be bullied!
Please forward this “No 20-Year Deal and No Gag Order" petition to as many interested Ithaca residents as you know.
And please have them reply to me directly at johngraves319@gmail.com.
Join us!
# Name Address
1 - John Graves 319 Pleasant Street
2 - Rita Graves 319 Pleasant Street
3 - Marjorie Olds 100 Renzetti Place
4 - Bryan Isacks 100 Renzetti Place
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