The internal tax service is considering revoking the tax -free state of Harvard University and a decision could be made in the next few days, sources told ABC News on Thursday.
The White House has already put a freezing at $ 2.2 billion in subsidies of several years and $ 60 million in contract value of several years after the school refused to meet a series of demands of the administration of President Donald Trump.
The National Security Department also threatens to revoke the status of the student and exchange of Harvard Visitors, which allows non -citizens to study there under a specific visa, unless you deliver the records of students’ visas holders, specifically those related to “illegal and violent activities,” DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, told Harvard in a letter sent by the department.
Attempts to terminate Harvard’s tax exempt would probably face legal challenges. In a statement, Harvard said that revoking his tax exempt would be illegal and would endanger “our ability to carry out our educational mission.”
Students, teachers and members of the community rally at Harvard University, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
AP
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out an education mission,” said a college spokesman. “It would result in decreased financial aid for students, the abandonment of critical medical research programs and the loss of innovation opportunities. The illegal use of this instrument would have serious consequences for the future of higher education in the United States.”
The White House said in a statement to ABC News that any investigation by the IRS in Harvard began before President Donald Trump published on his social networks that the school should lose its exempt tax status.
“Any next IRS action will be carried out independently of the president, and investigations on the violations of any institution on their fiscal state will begin before the president’s truth,” said the former press secretary Harrison Fields.
The Federal Law prohibits the president from directly or indirectly ordering the IRS who performs or terminating an audit or investigation. The law also prohibits the vice president or any employee of the president or vice president of the direct participation of Oindirect.
When asked on Thursday why his administration was chasing Harvard’s tax, Trump said: “Because Harvard is a misfortune, it is anti -Semitic. The tax exempt from tax is a privilege and has been abused by much more than Harvard.
On Tuesday, Trump published on his social platform of Truth: “Maybe Harvard should lose his tax exempt and be taxed as a political entity if he continues to press the” disease “of political, ideological and terrorist inspiration?
Trump said Thursday that he was not involved in the effort, telling a journalist: “I read it like you.”
The Trump administration had demanded that Harvard finish its diversity, equity and inclusion programs; adopt admissions based on merit; and cooperate with immigration authorities.
In a letter on April 11, the Trump administration argued that the school “could not meet the conditions of intellectual and civil rights that justify federal investment” and the proposed terms, including the change in school governance, adopting hiring based on merit, closing any program ofi and allowing “audits” to guarantee “diversity of views”.
-Peter Charalambous of ABC News contributed to this report.
