Berman Asks IRS to End Elks Club Tax Exemption

Saying the public should not be forced to subsidize racial discrimination, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) has called on the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Van Nuys Elks Lodge, which rejected two black men for membership twice this month.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, as the national organization and its 2,300 lodges are officially known, has not paid federal taxes since the IRS granted it an exemption in 1951, said John Hanlon, a spokesman for the federal agency.

In a letter to the IRS this week, Berman said the Van Nuys lodge has “forfeited the right to a tax exemption. . . . If the Elks lodge chooses to discriminate, the public should not be compelled to subsidize that discrimination with a tax exemption.”

2 Blacks Denied

Earlier this month the Van Nuys lodge rejected Jules S. Bagneris III and Thomas J. Montgomery on the same night two other black men were finally admitted to the Lompoc lodge after a months-long controversy.

Bagneris and Montgomery--who were nominated by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), a lodge member--were rejected a second time last week. Rejected twice along with them was Robbins aide Jack Sheffield, who is white.

Berman said he bases his charges of racism on the lodge’s repeated denial of membership to the two black men, and the fact it has no other black members.

Elks officials have denied charges of racism. Berman has “tremendously overreacted,” said Robert Verte, secretary to the national organization’s grand exalted ruler, on Tuesday. “The men have a right to vote the way they feel.”

Richard Vasquez, a Los Angeles-based IRS agent specializing in exempt organizations, said Tuesday that he could not respond to Berman’s request that the agency at least investigate the Elks’ compliance with civil rights laws because the agency had not received the letter.

Not for Profit

The Elks organization is tax-exempt because it is considered a “fraternal beneficiary society” formed solely for the benefit of its members and not for profit, Vasquez said. Although it is not the basis of their exemption, the Elks also donate millions of dollars annually to charity, more than $5 million last year.

Vasquez said he believes that the IRS has investigated other fraternal organizations$for alleged civil rights violations in the past, but has never revoked any such organization’s tax-exempt status.

“The tough part is to prove racism,” Vasquez said. “There would almost have to be evidence in writing.”

Robert Yothers, another spokesman for the organization, said he welcomed an IRS inquiry. “Let them investigate,” he said. “We’ve been attacked before, and we’re still here.”