Press
Letter In Anticipation of Hearing Tomorrow “Small Business Tax Reform: Growth Through Simplicity”
April 9, 2013
The Honorable Sam Graves
Chairman
Committee on Small Business
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Nydia M. Velazquez
Ranking Member
Committee on Small Business
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: Small Business Tax Reform and the Importance of the Credit Union Tax Exemption to American Small Businesses
Dear Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Velazquez:
On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of our nation’s federal credit unions, I write in conjunction with tomorrow’s hearing entitled “Small Business Tax Reform: Growth Through Simplicity.” NAFCU applauds both the Small Business and Ways and Means Committees on their efforts to ensure a simpler and fairer tax code for our nation’s small businesses. NAFCU is closely following tax reform developments emerging from both committees and looks forward to Chairman Camp’s testimony tomorrow.
As member-owned cooperatives providing local communities with financial service products, credit unions are not only small businesses themselves, but also important partners to many other small businesses. The key to economic growth, particularly with regard to small business, is access to capital. Our nation’s credit unions are proud of their track record in serving Main Street America and believe this basic principle needs to be remembered as part of the tax reform debate.
Credit unions are an important source of capital to our nation’s small businesses and benefit the economy to tune of over $10 billion a year according to an independent study released by NAFCU last year. The study also indicated that altering the tax status of credit unions would have a devastating impact not only on the 95 million credit union members across the country, but also on consumers and small businesses in general. Eliminating the credit union tax exemption would result in the loss of 150,000 jobs a year over the next decade, a shrinking of the GDP and a net loss of revenue to the federal government.
NAFCU believes that protecting the credit union federal tax exemption is paramount in any tax reform debate. We support efforts to simplify the tax code for small businesses where appropriate and look forward to working with both the Small Business and Ways and Means Committees moving forward. If my colleagues or I can be of assistance to you, or if you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact me or NAFCU’s Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Brad Thaler, at (703) 842-2204.
Sincerely,
B. Dan Berger
Executive Vice President, Government Affairs