Trump says he's revoking Harvard's tax-exempt status: 'It's what they deserve!'
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump said he is taking action to remove the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, escalating his fight with one of the country's most prestigious universities.
"We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social on the morning of May 2.
The move to use executive power to revoke Harvard's tax-free designation ‒ a status held by the vast majority of U.S. colleges and universities as non-profits ‒ is expected to be challenged in federal court. The Internal Revenue Service grants federal tax exemptions in accordance with federal law.
Trump, who had previously threatened targeting Harvard's tax-exempt status, has accused Harvard of being an "anti-Semitic, far-left Institution."
His administration in April said it is freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding for the Ivy League school after Harvard leaders said they would not agree to a list of Trump administration demands, which included a mask ban and removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
"There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status," Harvard spokesman Jason Newton said in a statement. “Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission."
Ahead of Trump's announcement, a group of Senate Democrats ‒ including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts ‒ sent a letter to the acting inspector general of the Treasury Department calling for an investigation into Trump's plan to revoke Harvard's non-profit status.
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"It is both illegal and unconstitutional for the IRS to take direction from the President to targetschools, hospitals, churches, or any other tax-exempt entities as retribution for using their freespeech rights," the letter, also signed by Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon, says.
Harvard responded to Trump's funding freeze in April by suing the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully threatening the school's "academic independence" and "pathbreaking research."
Trump has increasingly made the elite university a go-to punching bag. "It is clear to see the next chapter of the American Story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson," Trump told graduates of the University of Alabama on May 1, referencing the name of Harvard's college newspaper. "It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide."
Similar to many other nonprofit colleges, Harvard is exempt from federal and state income taxes. The president doesn't necessarily have the unilateral authority to revoke an organization's tax-exempt status, but there are processes by which the IRS can rescind nonprofit status. A bill introduced by Republicans in Congress last year would give the president and Treasury secretary more latitude to target colleges' tax exemptions.
Harvard receives about $9 billion annually from the federal government, with $7 billion going to 11 Harvard-affiliated hospitals. A significant amount of federal funding, $686 million in 2024, also supports research and innovation at Harvard.
The university also has an endowment of $53.2 billion, by far the largest of any school in the United States, though about 80% has certain restrictions.
Newton said revoking Harvard's tax-exempt status 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," Newton added.
Contributing: Zach Schermele. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
(This story has been updated with more information.)