WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump posted Friday morning on Truth Social that Harvard University will be stripped of its tax-exempt status in an escalation of the ongoing feud between the administration and the Ivy league school.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status," he wrote. "It’s what they deserve!”
Trump did not provide any further details about the planned revocation of the university’s status as an educational institution under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), which exempts it from paying federal income tax.
A spokesperson for Harvard responded to the president’s post and said in a statement that there is “no legal basis” for the move.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission," the spokesperson said. "It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America."
The president first floated the idea on social media last month.
“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'" he wrote.
A White House spokesman said at the time that actions by the IRS would be “conducted independently of the president” and any review of Harvard began before Trump's post. It is against U.S. law for the president or another member of the executive branch to direct the IRS to investigate a taxpayer.
Friday’s post was the latest in the intensifying standoff between Harvard and the Trump administration.
Last month, Harvard President Alan Garber announced the school was rejecting demands for “unprecedented” changes to its leadership, hiring, admissions and student groups by the federal government.
The Trump administration subsequently suspended more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard. In an announcement about the funding freeze, U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services alleged that Harvard allowed antisemitism to fester on its campus unchecked in recent years.
In response, Harvard sued the Trump administration, arguing the funding freeze was “arbitrary and capricious" and is part of an effort to gain leverage in order to control Harvard's academic decision-making.
The Department of Homeland Security has also warned that Harvard could lose its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification — a requirement for enrolling international students — if it doesn’t provide detailed records on its foreign student visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities” to federal officials. International students make up a quarter of the total enrollment at Harvard. The Harvard Crimson reported that the university provided information to Homeland Security but did not specify what records were shared.
