Grassroot Institute of Hawaii tax filing claims no lobbying
Doug White has looked into the tax
filings of the Grassroot [sic] Institute of Hawaii, with a link to their 2005
form 990 (PDF) at Guidestar.com, and notes that GRIH claims zero
activity under lobbying, yet they reported engaging in activities that clearly
seem to fall under the lobbying definition. Seems to me deserving of further
scrutiny. And it would be good to check their 2006 filing once it is
available.Update 9/20:
Doug follows up with a
Hawaii
Reporter post from the GRIH in which they state
that they are "not explicitly opposed to the Akaka bill," but only to certain
provisions or presumed implications or anticipated effects of the bill.
Riiiight. But explaining the
reasons
for their lobbying doesn't make it any less
lobbying.It should be noted that 501c3
nonprofits are not prohibited entirely from lobbying, but from
excessive
lobbying activities, which can be measured by the Expenditure
Test or
the Substantial
Part Test. In either case, an organization that conducts "excessive
lobbying activity" may lose its tax-exempt status, resulting in all of its
income being subject to tax. GRIH is allowed to do some lobbying, but the issues
seem to be, first, did they falsely report their lobbying activities, and
second, were those activities "excessive" by one of the tests.
Posted: Tue - September 18, 2007 at 11:57 AM