An article in today's Wall Street Journal discusses why the credit union tax exemption is untouchable.
The article points out how credit unions have been successful in their grassroot efforts in keeping their preferential tax treatment off the chopping block, while lawmakers were scrambling to find tax breaks to eliminate to fund the tax code overhaul.
For example, the article mentions Project Zip Code, which matches credit union members addresses to Congressional Districts. This allows credit unions to tell Congressional offices how many credit union members would be affected by repealing the tax exemption in their Congressional districts.
The article stated that members of Congress would face "significant political blowback", if they proposed eliminating the credit union tax exemption.
However, I believe that the story overstates the clout of the credit union lobby. While the article mentions the 1998 legislation that overturned the Supreme Court field of membership decision, it failed to mention that the same 1998 legislation capped business lending at credit unions. It also did not point out that credit unions have been unsuccessful in their efforts to raise their business lending limit for more than a decade.
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What a joke.
ReplyDeleteThese lawmakers make me sick and they don’t “make law”.
People across all spectrums of the economy are paying taxes. We have a huge deficit. They’re willing to discuss eliminating the mortgage tax deduction, SALT, Medicare but $1B asset credit union “banks” don’t pay income tax?
Is it because congress and the senate have a credit union so the pigs are really saving themselves? While they have a better medical plan than most Americans?
These politicians are disgusting.
My wife and I both work and for 4.5 months of the year or more we work to pay the government because it’s over a third of our income.
What’s the risk?
Just tax them. People won’t care.
They’ll still have great rates from banks and credit unions.
It’ll blow over in 5 minutes.
Gutless.
And unfair.
1998 also elevated cu capital/asset ratio requirements under PCA and with no flex for lower risk assets, further limiting asset growth.
ReplyDeleteCredit unions want to buy banks, make business loans, market to anyone anywhere, raise secondary capital, make risk based loans, make indirect loans to a ton of non members and grow the over $1B in assets...sponsor stadiums and events ....all subsidized by NOT paying taxes while we have a deficit and everyone else pays taxes.
ReplyDeleteAnd congress wants to cut Medicare and short change the military.
Totally unfair, inequitable. They pick winners as if that’s what we’ve sent them there to do.