Trump Tells the IRS to Go After Harvard

Using tax authorities to punish perceived critics is illegal. The administration is trying anyway.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

On April 16, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration has requested that the Internal Revenue Service start the process of revoking Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, a day after the president threatened its recission in a Truth Social post. Earlier this week, the Trump Administration announced it was withholding some $2.2 billion in federal grants from the world's wealthiest university after it refused White House demands to make far-reaching changes to its hiring, teaching, and admissions practices.

If the IRS goes through with the effort, which was first reported by CNN, it would put the U.S. in league with backsliding democracies that attempt to silence critics with politically motivated tax probes. Executive branch interference in tax prosecutions also is illegal under U.S. law, following attempted abuses under President Richard Nixon.