President Donald Trump renewed his threat to eliminate Harvard taxes from Harvard tax.
“We are going to eliminate Harvard’s exempt state. It is what they deserve,” Trump wrote in a publication to its conservative social networks. First the idea floated in mid -April.
However, any attempt to do it would probably face legal challenges.
A Harvard spokesman told ABC News that there is no “legal basis” to terminate the university taxes and said it would endanger the school’s ability to carry out its mission.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” said the spokesman. “It would result in diminished financial aid for students, the abandonment of critical medical research programs and the loss of innovation opportunities. The illegal use of this instrument in general would have serious consequences for the future of higher education in the United States.”
People walk through Harvard Yard on Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, April 15, 2025.
Joseph Prezios/AFP through Getty Images
Trump has pointed to the university after he said he would not comply with the series of administration demands, including actions on anti -Semitism and the use of Dei on campus.
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $ 2.2 billion in federal subsidies to Harvard, as well as $ 60 million in contractual value of several years for the institution. Harvard demanded the administration in response, claiming that freezing violates the first amendment and federal law.
Removing the school exempt from the school would be the last escalation.
The Federal Law prohibits the President directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to terminate an audit or investigation.
The sources previously told ABC News that IRS was considering revoking Harvard’s tax. The White House said in a statement to ABC News in mid -April that any investigation by the IRS to Harvard began before President Trump began publishing in his social media account that the school should lose its tax exempt from taxes.
Many large public and private universities in the US are exempt from federal income under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code due to their educational mission, research and public service.
“The Government has long exempted tax universities to support their educational mission,” said Harvard spokesman. “Tax exemption means that more of each dollar can be used for students’ scholarships, medical research that comes out with life and that increase life and technological advances that drive economic growth.”
Hannah Demissie of ABC News, Katherine Faulders, Arthur Jones and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
