Minnesota Voters Alliance Files Internal Revenue Service Complaint Against League of Women Voters

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA) has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) asking the IRS to review the appropriateness of the tax exempt status of the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF). The complaint is based on the MVA's just-completed review of the IRS Form 990 tax returns filed by the League of Women Voters United States (LWVUS) and by the LWVEF, as well as other public documents.

The MVA is hopeful that the IRS will look into the matter quickly because it is important for thousands of other charitable organizations to know precisely what is allowed and what is not.

The MVA is also concerned about the League's involvement in conducting debates during this critical election season. Specifically, the MVA calls on the League of Women Voters to make clear to the public and the candidates that the League is a lobbying organization and to disclose widely, during the runup to each debate it organizes, what issues it lobbies for and which side it takes on the major political issues of the day.

As a lobbying organization, the League is not neutral on the issues facing a divided electorate. "How can the League play a neutral role in a debate," Cilek says, "when it may be, at the same time, lobbying the incumbent on legislative issues like government-funded healthcare, higher taxes, or photo identification voting requirements, to name just a few of the many areas in which the League lobbies?"

See IRS complaint: http://www.mnvoters.org/images/docs/lwv_complaint.pdf

About the Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA)

The Minnesota Voters Alliance, a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization, is a grassroots citizens group whose primary purpose is empowering voters and protecting their rights. Current projects of the Alliance include conducting ballot initiatives for a voter photo identification requirement, lobbying and suing to preserve the one-person-one-vote principal, and working to protect the public's right to elect judges. http://www.mnvoters.org

SOURCE Minnesota Voters Alliance