‘It’s what they deserve’: Trump will move to strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status
President Donald Trump said he will seek to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating the fight between the elite institution and the federal government to new heights.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "We are going to be taking away Harvard's Tax Exempt Status. It's what they deserve!"
The move would require an investigation from the Internal Revenue Service into whether Harvard violated the conditions that allow it to avoid some federal taxes as a charitable institution, as numerous other colleges and nonprofits do.
Harvard, which has said there is "no legal basis" for such a move, could contest the IRS's finding and ultimately challenge the decision in the federal courts.
"The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission," Harvard said in a statement. "The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research and technological advancements that drive economic growth."
For the university, the financial stakes are "enormous," Johnny Rex Buckles, an expert on tax law and professor of law at the University of Houston, said earlier this week.
The school's endowment is reported to be roughly $52 billion , the largest for any university in the country, and grew by 5% last year, or nearly $2.5 billion.
House Republicans have also proposed raising the tax rate from 1.4% to 21% on endowment profits at certain universities with especially heavy endowments, including Harvard, putting them in line with the federal corporate tax rate. Under that proposal, the school could be taxed more than $500 million annually.
Trump has targeted the university with increasing tenacity in recent weeks, accusing it of allowing a climate of antisemitism to fester in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
The government has already moved to freeze $2.2 billion in federal research funding to Harvard after the university refused a series of demands to overhaul its admissions, discipline and management policies, and allow outside audits of viewpoint diversity on campus, among a litany of other conditions.
Harvard responded by suing the Trump administration, accusing it of overstepping the power of the government and improperly attempting to influence a private university.
On Tuesday, Harvard released long-awaited reports on antisemitism and anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias, finding a collection of failures by the school to adequately support students of Jewish, Muslim, Arab or other backgrounds or manage the heightened campus tensions after the Oct. 7 attacks.
The school says it has taken meaningful, ongoing steps to combat discrimination against Jews, while acknowledging on Tuesday significant work ahead to correct hostilities on campus.
The withdrawal of federal funding, which would affect research on everything from cancer to national defense , has no link to curbing antisemitism, Harvard has argued.
Trump has suggested that Harvard be taxed as a political organization , such as a political party or campaign committee, which have different tax requirements than charities or traditional corporations.
"Tax-exempt status, I mean it's a privilege and it's been abused, by a lot more than Harvard," Trump said in the Oval Office last month.
