Stephen Moore: Reconciliation Bill Should Have Tax Cuts Paid for with Tax on Endowments

April 7, 2026
5:50 am

▶

Listen to Article

Stephen Moore, the sharp-witted economist and former Trump advisor, dropped a bombshell on Fox Business's Kudlow this week: the Democrats' bloated reconciliation bill—now a $3.5 trillion behemoth masquerading as infrastructure—should be gutted and repurposed with real tax cuts for working Americans, funded by slapping a hefty tax on bloated university endowments. Moore's pitch is simple but savage: why let elite ivory towers like Harvard (with its $50 billion war chest) and Yale sit on tax-exempt fortunes while middle-class families foot the bill for Green New Deal fantasies? Host Larry Kudlow nodded along as Moore argued this could raise billions without touching core revenues, freeing up space for pro-growth cuts that actually juice the economy. But here's the 2A angle Moore's headline misses, and it's a doozy for gun owners: those same university endowments are the deep-pocketed enablers of the anti-Second Amendment crusade. Harvard's endowment alone bankrolls faculty like Laurence Tribe, who dream up legal theories to gut the Heller decision, while Yale funds gun violence research that's little more than advocacy disguised as scholarship—pumping out studies that ignore defensive gun uses and inflate urban crime stats to push red-flag laws and assault weapon bans. Taxing these piggy banks isn't just fiscal housekeeping; it's a direct hit on the intellectual infrastructure of the gun-grabbers. Imagine the ripple effect: cash-strapped campuses dialing back their Bloomberg-funded activism, leaving less ammo for Biden's ATF to churn out rules like pistol brace crackdowns or ghost gun hysteria. Pro-2A warriors have long railed against Big Academia's bias—now Moore's handing us a fiscal crowbar to pry it open. The implications? This could supercharge Republican messaging heading into midterms, framing tax relief as a populist revolt against woke elites who lecture us on common-sense gun reform from their gated enclaves. If even a fraction of that endowment loot gets redirected, it starves the beast funding campus echo chambers that train the next generation of prosecutors and judges hostile to self-defense rights. Gun owners should cheer this on—tweet at your reps, amplify Moore's clip, and push for endowment taxes in any GOP counter-bill. It's not just about your wallet; it's about starving the machine that's been reloading against the Second Amendment for decades. Time to pull the trigger on some real reform.

Best FFL Software Ranked and Compared!

Stephen Moore, the sharp-witted economist and former Trump advisor, dropped a bombshell on Fox Business’s Kudlow this week: the Democrats’ bloated reconciliation bill—now a $3.5 trillion behemoth masquerading as infrastructure—should be gutted and repurposed with real tax cuts for working Americans, funded by slapping a hefty tax on bloated university endowments. Moore’s pitch is simple but savage: why let elite ivory towers like Harvard (with its $50 billion war chest) and Yale sit on tax-exempt fortunes while middle-class families foot the bill for Green New Deal fantasies? Host Larry Kudlow nodded along as Moore argued this could raise billions without touching core revenues, freeing up space for pro-growth cuts that actually juice the economy.

But here’s the 2A angle Moore’s headline misses, and it’s a doozy for gun owners: those same university endowments are the deep-pocketed enablers of the anti-Second Amendment crusade. Harvard’s endowment alone bankrolls faculty like Laurence Tribe, who dream up legal theories to gut the Heller decision, while Yale funds gun violence research that’s little more than advocacy disguised as scholarship—pumping out studies that ignore defensive gun uses and inflate urban crime stats to push red-flag laws and assault weapon bans. Taxing these piggy banks isn’t just fiscal housekeeping; it’s a direct hit on the intellectual infrastructure of the gun-grabbers. Imagine the ripple effect: cash-strapped campuses dialing back their Bloomberg-funded activism, leaving less ammo for Biden’s ATF to churn out rules like pistol brace crackdowns or ghost gun hysteria. Pro-2A warriors have long railed against Big Academia’s bias—now Moore’s handing us a fiscal crowbar to pry it open.

The implications? This could supercharge Republican messaging heading into midterms, framing tax relief as a populist revolt against woke elites who lecture us on common-sense gun reform from their gated enclaves. If even a fraction of that endowment loot gets redirected, it starves the beast funding campus echo chambers that train the next generation of prosecutors and judges hostile to self-defense rights. Gun owners should cheer this on—tweet at your reps, amplify Moore’s clip, and push for endowment taxes in any GOP counter-bill. It’s not just about your wallet; it’s about starving the machine that’s been reloading against the Second Amendment for decades. Time to pull the trigger on some real reform.

Share this story