On Friday, President Trump announced that he would be revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
“We’re going to take away Harvard’s tax-free status, and frankly, that’s what they deserve!” he stated in a post on Truth Social.
This decision comes shortly after the Trump administration paused several $2.2 billion federal grants due to elite Ivy League schools not addressing allegations of anti-Semitism and hostility on their campuses.
Previously, Trump suggested he might pursue the tax-exempt status for schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, if they continued to promote what he described as students’ “political, ideological, and terrorist-inspired ‘sickness.’”
“Keep in mind that tax-free status entirely depends on actions that serve the public interest!” he emphasized.
This tax-exempt status, as regulated by the Internal Revenue Service, allows universities to receive significant donations from wealthy benefactors aiming to lower their tax liabilities.
Harvard’s tax exemption has contributed to elite schools attracting around $53 billion from the nation’s top universities, which in turn led to approximately $2.4 billion in revenue for them in 2024.
As of yet, Harvard has not responded to Trump’s remarks following his social media post.
