Extra News Alerts
Get breaking updates as they happen.
Trump says he’s ‘taking away’ Harvard’s tax-exempt status
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote on social media.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Friday that Harvard University would lose its tax-exempt status, repeating his intent to enlist the IRS in his feud with the wealthy research university and upend the school’s finances.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote on social media.
It was not immediately clear whether the IRS was in fact moving forward with revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, a change that could only typically occur after a lengthy process. Federal law prohibits the president from directing the IRS to conduct tax investigations, and IRS employees who receive such a command are required to report it to an inspector general.
Advertisement:
After Trump first publicly called for Harvard to lose its tax exemption last month, White House officials said that the IRS would make its own conclusion about whether to do so.
Spokespeople for the IRS and Treasury Department, which oversees the tax collector, did not respond to a request for comment. A Harvard spokesperson said in a statement that there was “no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status” and that “such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission.”
With its tax-exempt status, Harvard not only does not have to pay most taxes, but donors can write off gifts to the school on their own tax returns. Losing the status would not only force Harvard to start paying tax to the federal government but could cause donations to dry up.
Advertisement:
The intensifying standoff between the Trump administration and Harvard is part of a broad pressure campaign by the administration against some of the nation’s most elite universities. The administration has painted many top U.S. universities as hotbeds of antisemitism and discrimination that require federal intervention.
In recent weeks, Harvard has taken a decidedly confrontational posture toward the Trump administration. The university, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has rejected a roster of demands from the government — including that it submit to audits, alter its admissions and hiring policies, and bring in an outsider to examine “those programs and departments that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.”
After the administration froze more than $2 billion in federal funds in retaliation for Harvard’s defiance, the university sued.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com