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Donald Trump has said he will scrap Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, threatening to deal a significant blow to the university’s finances and signalling another escalation in his attack on elite US institutions.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” the US president said in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning.
The comments from the president deepen a stand-off between Harvard and the White House, which has also said it will strip more than $2.2bn in federal funding from the university. Harvard responded last month by suing the Trump administration.
Harvard said there was “no legal basis to rescind” the university’s tax-exempt status, adding that the 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”.
The university added in its statement that the “unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission”.
Trump has stepped up his attacks on universities and other US institutions that his supporters consider too progressive. Earlier on Friday, Trump said he would also end federal funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
The administration accuses the institutions of bias against Trump and his agenda, while critics of the president have assailed his crackdown as a widening attack on free speech.
Trump had already previously threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.
Removal of tax-exempt status for Harvard could mean the university is no longer treated as a charity for tax purposes, forcing it to pay federal taxes on its income, among other impacts. Some donors could also lose the tax benefit of giving money to the university.
The White House did not immediately provide any details about Trump’s comments or how and when it would move to end Harvard’s tax exemption.
Democratic US senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, a former professor at the university, on Friday co-signed a letter calling on the acting Treasury inspector general for tax administration to investigate the “alarming” reports that the Internal Revenue Service could revoke Harvard’s non-profit status.
“It is . . . unconscionable that the IRS would become a weapon of the Trump Administration to extort its perceived enemies,” they wrote.
The president last week accused leading US universities, including Harvard, of violating federal laws on large foreign donations.
Alongside depriving some universities of their tax-exempt status, the government is also considering overhauling the accreditation system that makes universities eligible for federal funding, including student loans.
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers in Washington
