Anti-CU Lobby Seeks NationalSupport

SALT LAKE CITY - (05/06/05) -- A group formed by Utah bankers isseeking financing and help from bankers across the country in itsaim to tax credit unions. "We're basically supported by Utah banks;now we're reaching out to other states," said Hugh Matheson,president of Council for Sound Tax Policy. Matheson, a member ofthe politically powerful family that includes his cousins ScottMatheson, former Utah governor, and current U.S. Congressman JimMatheson, said they are working to broaden support for the groupinside Utah to include members of local school boards and of thebusiness community who are concerned about the revenue implicationsof the 80-year-old credit union exemption. So far the group hasbeen financed almost exclusively by a group of Utah banks,including Zions and the Utah Bankers Association, but is gaininginterest from banks elsewhere, according to Matheson. "There's ahandful in Utah and a handful outside of Utah," he told The CreditUnion Journal, of his funding sources. The group recently lobbiedthe President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform on a proposal torepeal the federal tax exemption for large creditunions.