The Times is right about the failure of tax policy to generate sufficient revenue for crucial government spending. Where the Times gets it wrong is using the Smith gift as the context for its criticism. Would U.S. tax policy stand a better chance of becoming fairer? Robert Smith’s one gift won’t significantly reduce student debt, but philanthropy dedicated to that purpose, one institution at a time, could. Or they can, like Robert Smith and Michael Bloomberg, give it away to poor students so they can afford to go to college.

Source: Forbes May 21, 2019 23:48 UTC