Berman Urges IRS to Start Taxing Elks

Saying the public should not be compelled 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.

In a letter to the IRS this week, Berman said the Van Nuys lodge has “forfeited the right to a tax exemption.”

Earlier this month the 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 months of controversy. Bagneris and Montgomery reapplied and last week were rejected for a second time.

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

Richard Vasquez, a Los Angeles-based IRS agent specializing in tax-exempt organizations, said 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.