If the government of Connecticut needs cash, how can they legally pilfer it from Yale’s endowment?

The Daily Caller reports.

Connecticut May Raid Yale’s Endowment For Much-Needed Cash

Connecticut’s cash-starved government is considering raiding the endowment of Yale University in an attempt to plug a growing budget hole.

A bill introduced to the Connecticut Senate would tax the annual gains of any college endowment valued at over $10 billion. The high threshold effectively singles out Yale, as no other schools in Connecticut even come close to having an endowment that large. Yale’s endowment of about $26 billion is the second largest in the country, behind only Harvard University’s gargantuan $38 billion nest egg.

If passed, the bill would be the first law of its kind at either the state or federal level.

Yale would be able to avoid the tax hit, but only if it dedicated all of its endowment gains to its educational mission rather than reinvesting its gains back into the endowment.

Connecticut needs money because of a rapidly-growing hole in the state’s budget that lawmakers are desperate to fill. The state has a current budget shortfall of $266 million, and its unfunded pension liabilities total about $26 billion, one of the most underfunded pension systems in the country.

Yale certainly presents a tempting target to lawmakers. In contrast to regular citizens or businesses, the historic school can’t simply relocate to avoid taxes.