Harvard Might Lose Its Tax-Exempt Status. IRS Reportedly Getting the Paperwork Ready.
TownhallAPR 19
IRS Weighs Revoking Harvard's Tax-Exempt Status Amid Trump Feud
Above: People gather around the John Harvard Statue on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass., on April 15, 2025. Image copyright: Joseph Prezioso/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Spin
Republican narrative
Harvard is an elitist corporation that has created a hostile environment for Jewish students through its failure to address antisemitism. The college's actions — and lack of action in certain instances — call into question its tax-exempt status. American taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for an institution that has enabled hate speech from some of its students that is a threat to US national security.
Democratic narrative
Harvard and similar independent institutions of higher learning must stand strong against these unprecedented, and likely illegal, threats and actions by the Trump administration. The administration is attacking Harvard by claiming it's rooting out antisemitism, but Trump's public statements show he has a personal axe to grind with what he perceives to be the college's ideology.