‘Excessive lobbying’ by nonprofit federal land critic prompts complaint to IRS
By: Laura Lundquist, Missoula Current, September 30, 2019
A Montana nonprofit led by a federal land critic should give up its tax-exempt status because of lobbying activities, according to two watchdog groups.
Click here to read CfA’s Complaint.
On Friday, the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Accountability sent a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service claiming Citizens for Balanced Use has repeatedly violated laws that limit the amount of lobbying that tax-exempt nonprofit organizations are allowed to carry out.
The stated mission of Citizens for Balanced Use, based near Bozeman, is to “educate the public on the issues that confront our ability to access and actively manage our public lands,” but the complaint claims the group does more than just educate.
The complaint alleges that members of Citizens for Balanced Use have lobbied both state and federal officials for greater multiple-use activities, particularly motorized use and resource extraction, on public land for at least the past four years.