内容摘要：United States President Donald Trump has bid goodbye to Elon Musk at a White House event marking the billionaire’s

United States President Donald Trump has bid goodbye to Elon Musk at a White House event marking the billionaire’s

But because the bill determines which universities are taxable based on per-student endowments, it isn’t just big schools that will be affected: Even smaller private institutions, that previously paid 1.4 percent tax, might now have to pay much more.Pomona College in Claremont, California, had a total endowment of $3bn in 2024, of which the institute uses 5 percent each year.

The university says 60 percent, or $36m, of financial aid at Pomona is covered by endowment, which also covers about half the institute’s operating budget. It has 1,747 students, which means Pomona has a per-student endowment of $1.7m. Until now, it paid a tax worth 1.4 percent of the endowment; if the bill passes, it will be taxed at 14 percent.Can this be enforced?If the bill passes in the Senate, Trump is almost certain to sign it.

But the version of the legislature that makes it out of Congress might be different from the one passed by the House.“Even if the Senate passes the tax, it’s possible that they change the amount of the tax and the criteria for its application in the process,” said Emily Saulnier, editor-in-chief of the Boston College Law Review, a publication at Boston College Law School.

Centrist and conservative Republicans in the Senate are divided on the bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson has urged Republican senators to revise it as little as possible. If Senators pass a revised version, the House will need to vote on that new text for it to be passed onto Trump, who will then sign it into law.

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson has opposed the bill in its current form, arguing it will increase the national deficit, which is the difference between the amount of money the federal government spends and the amount it earns through revenue. Johnson said the House bill would add “$4 trillion” to the deficit. In 2024, the deficit was $1.83 trillion.“Nawrocki is anti-EU, anti-Ukrainian, inexperienced and incompetent, and I don’t imagine a president having ties with hooligan movements.”

Polls are inconclusive when it comes to the election favourite. What the first round of the vote has revealed, however, is that voters are tired of the continuous primacy of the two biggest parties.“If we add up the results of Nawrocki and Trzaskowski, it is slightly above 60 percent, the worst result since 2005. It is clear that Poles are looking for an alternative, and not only on the right, but also to the left,” said Marcin Palade, political sociologist and expert on electoral geography in Poland. This compares with the nearly 74 percent won by the top two candidates in the 2020 presidential election – Andrzej Duda and Rafal Trzaskowski.

“Rafał Trzaskowski finished the first round [this year] below even what the polls predicted would be the minimum he could win, which is the worst possible scenario,” Palade said. “Nawrocki had the worst result a PiS candidate has had since 2005, below the ratings of the party that has stood behind him.”Furthermore, there may be more voters in the second round: Voter turnout for the first round was 67.3 percent. Palade added: “The second round will be decided by young people, but also by those who did not vote in the first round. It is an open question whom they will support.”