Featured Partner

Bank lobbyists want to raise taxes on 96 million Americans

Font Size:

As Congress debates an overhaul of the tax code, it is considering implementing new taxes that will have a dramatic impact on the middle class and effectively raise taxes on about 96 million people. This blanket-style review of the tax code would end the tax-exempt status for nonprofit credit unions, which would jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs and stifle economic growth.

New taxes on credit unions will also eliminate needed competition between banks and credit unions. The result: higher fees and higher loan and mortgage rates for many in the middle class, and for small businesses.

The proposal to place new taxes on credit unions is being pushed on Capitol Hill by the banking industry’s K Street lobbyists, who tell politicians that credit unions’ nonprofit tax status gives them an unfair advantage, while at the same time letting credit unions off the hook in the effort to balance the budget.

But banks have private investors and stockholders, and are taxed on their profits. Credit unions make no profits and return their surplus back to their members through lower interest rates on loans and higher rates on deposits – so taxes are paid at the individual member level. According to an Americans for Tax Reform review of current tax policy, “the net effect for federal coffers is pretty close to a wash.

The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the tax exemption for credit unions amounted to $0.5 billion last year. But $0.5 billion is only a tiny fraction of the annual deficit. And worse, Steve Pociask of the American Consumer Institute writes, “…eliminating the nonprofit status of credit unions would cost consumers $16 for every $1 of taxes saved. That would be a really bad deal for consumers.”

As for the supposed unfair advantage claimed by Big Banking’s lobbyists, a look at the market share of credit unions does not bear their argument out: Banks hold 93 percent of financial assets in the United States, while credit unions hold roughly six percent.

The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is working to prevent new taxes from being foisted upon credit unions. CUNA partners with state leagues and credit unions to track and have an impact on laws affecting operations and members. CUNA engages credit unions at the grassroots level, facilitates discussion and provides credit union input to regulators to build knowledge for compliance staff. CUNA is helping credit union members voice their opposition to new taxes on these member-directed and member-owned institutions in an effort to preserve an essential piece of our financial system and a vital tool for the middle class and our communities.

Click here to tell Congress: DON'T TAX MY CREDIT UNION!

Members of the editorial and news staff of the Daily Caller were not involved in the creation of this content.

America's Credit Unions

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel