You may have heard recently from bankers trying to distort the facts about the credit union federal tax exemption.
We want to set the record straight. Despite what the bankers want you to believe, credit unions do pay many taxes (such as property taxes, payroll taxes, etc). The bankers also ignore the fact that nearly one-third of banks are Subchapter S corporations and don’t pay federal taxes themselves – a tax break worth billions to the bankers.
Last year, NAFCU released a groundbreaking economic study on the economic benefits of the credit union tax exemption to consumers, businesses, and the U.S. Economy. As evidenced by the study, altering the tax status of member-owned credit unions would have a devastating impact not only on the 95 million credit union members across the country, but also on consumers in general as eliminating the credit union tax exemption would result in the loss of 1.5 million jobs over the next decade, a shrinking of the GDP and a net loss of revenue to the federal government.
To review additional key findings and learn more, please visit www.nafcu.org/cutaxexemption. We hope this information is useful as Congress grapples with tax reform and considers policy solutions to reduce the federal deficit.
Credit unions did not contribute to the financial crisis and are proud of their track record in serving Main Street America. If you have additional questions about the credit union tax exemption or other legislative issues impacting credit unions, please feel free to contact me of NAFCU’s Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler at 703-842-2204 or at bthaler@nafcu.org.
Sincerely,
B. Dan Berger
Executive Vice President, Government Affairs
National Association of Federal Credit Unions