WashU Law Professor Conor Clarke has contributed a timely and thought-provoking essay to The Atlantic, engaging in one of the most high-profile legal and political debates of the moment: whether the federal government can, or should, revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
In his article, he states:
What is the rationale for the IRS revisiting Harvard’s exemption status? A theory is needed, because section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code says that an organization “shall”—not “may” be exempt from taxation if it meets criteria listed in the statute. One of those criteria is for an institution to be organized exclusively for “educational purposes.”
The Trump administration—which shoots first and theorizes later—has not said much. But an intellectual agenda has been building recently to challenge the exempt status of universities and other organizations viewed as left leaning. The unifying theory of this movement is to make expansive new use of a 1983 Supreme Court decision, Bob Jones University v. United States.
Read the full article here.
