United States President Donald Trump wrote on Friday that he would pull Harvard’s tax-exempt status — his second social media threat to weaponize the Internal Revenue Service in the White House’s standoff with the University.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It’s what they deserve.”
It was not immediately clear whether action to pull Harvard’s tax-exempt status had already been taken. A spokesperson for the IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
“There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status,” a Harvard spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission.”
Under federal law, Trump cannot unilaterally end Harvard’s tax-exempt status and is prohibited from “indirectly or directly” asking the IRS to initiate a tax investigation.
Nonprofits — including most schools like Harvard — are exempt from federal income tax insofar as they operate within their stated purposes and the legal limits of their classification. But Republicans, including Trump, have long alleged that Harvard has strayed from its educational mission and become a hotbed for antisemitism.
Harvard and the White House have been locked in a public battle since the University rejected a slate of demands that included sweeping changes to academic programming. Two weeks ago, Harvard sued the Trump administration for pulling $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts in response.
Early last month, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that his administration was considering pulling Harvard’s tax-exempt status for pushing “political, ideological, and terrorist inspired” ideology on students. One day later, the IRS reportedly began making plans to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
But Trump’s Friday post is the clearest sign yet that he intends to make good on his threat — and significantly increase Harvard’s tax burden.
Should Harvard’s tax-exempt status be revoked, financial aid programs and research projects would be hit the hardest, the Harvard spokesperson wrote.
Trump’s Friday post caps off a week in which Harvard has become one of his favorite verbal punching bags. During a speech at the University of Alabama’s commencement ceremony on Thursday, Trump told thousands of graduates that Harvard had lost its prestige.
“It is clear to see the next chapter of the American story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson,” he said — apparently in reference to the school mascot, not the student newspaper. “It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide.”
On Wednesday, Trump referred to Harvard as “Harlem” in meandering remarks on NewsNation, which he concluded by asserting that Black people supported his attacks on the University’s funding.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.