September 20, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that Focus on the Family will keep its tax-exempt status despite the public political stances taken by its chairman, James Dobson.
News of the decision was released by the Colorado Springs religious organization itself, which received the government’s opinion but declined to provide a copy of it to The Chronicle.
Mr. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, endorsed Republican candidates for office in 2004, and his religious charity is well known for supporting conservative causes.
Two watchdog groups complained to the IRS in 2005 about Mr. Dobson’s activities and actions of Focus on the Family, and the tax agency spent nearly a year auditing the charity.
Under federal law, charitable groups are prohibited from participating in political campaigns.
On his national radio broadcast last week, Mr. Dobson said that the IRS cleared him and his organization of any wrongdoing and concluded that he had acted as an individual when promoting candidates and not on behalf of the charity.
Mr. Dobson said his critics had intended “not only to see if they could damage us and maybe shut us up and take us out, but to scare every pastor and every nonprofit that’s out there.” He added: “I thank God for this result from the IRS. We knew that we had done what is right but it’s awful nice to get it on paper.”
