Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
If a university is 'biased' can it lose its tax-exempt status?
Thursday, July 30, 2020
By Allegra Taylor
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NO
According to the Internal Revenue Service code, institutions operating exclusively for educational purposes qualify for exemption from federal income taxes.
The code states that an educational institution is still considered educational even if it advocates a particular viewpoint as long as it “presents a sufficiently full and fair exposition of the pertinent facts.” An institution is only considered not to be educational if its “principal function” is the “presentation of unsupported opinion.”
A tax-exempt organization is also permitted to attempt to influence legislation, so long as that doesn’t represent a “substantial” part of its activities.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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