内容摘要：The US has the highest amount of national debt in the world and is facing growing concerns about its long-term fiscal stability.

The US has the highest amount of national debt in the world and is facing growing concerns about its long-term fiscal stability.

The new tax plans aim to increase taxes on what US universities earn from their endowments.So, what exactly is an endowment?

An endowment refers to funds or assets donated to a university to keep it financially sustained in the future.Endowments typically comprise charitable donations from alumni, other donors and companies.The bill before the US Congress sets tax rates for universities based on their effective endowments per student – by dividing their total endowments by the number of full-time students at the institution.

Earnings from investments made from endowments will be taxed, if the bill becomes law.Have universities been taxed so far?

Most colleges have not been taxed on their endowments for centuries.

The Revenue Act of 1909 exempted educational institutions as nonprofits which operate for public interest “exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes”. As a result, educational institutions did not pay taxes on their investment gains.“There was also the fact that this map had already been presented by another cartographer decades ago,” Braun said, explaining the second problem.

Scottish scientist James Gall indeed first published an identical projection in a science journal in 1855, but it went unnoticed. There is no proof, some researchers say, that Peters outrightly plagiarised Gall, but critics say his failure to credit the earlier researcher is still problematic.In 2016, the debate resurfaced with renewed vigour after public schools in the US city of Boston switched to what many now refer to as the “Gall-Peters” projection. Officials said the move was part of a three-year effort to “decolonise the curriculum”. Teachers said they were amazed to see students questioning their view of the world after the switch.

However, many experts and map enthusiasts were annoyed by the fact that Boston chose Peters, and as such, gave the projection renewed relevance.Al Jazeera reached out to the Boston Public Schools (BPS) for comment.