WASHINGTON – The 1,000 bankers gathered to lobby against the pending credit union bill have a new reason for their antipathy toward their credit union competitors – the fact they all are paying the city’s 14.5% hotel tax during their stay here while credit union executives meeting down the street for CUNA’s GAC are not.
That is not fair, said several bankers attending the American Bankers Association’s annual Government Relations Summit at Washington’s historic Omni Shoreham Hotel, just as an estimated 4,000 credit union executives and volunteers are gathered a few blocks away for CUNA’s Government Affairs Conference.
What has particularly caused the bankers’ ire is a recent ruling by the District of Columbia Department of Tax and Revenue stating credit unions’ federal tax exemption extends to city and state taxes such as the Washington hotel levy, although only for federally chartered credit unions. The ABA is telling its members they are paying $41.47 in D.C. hotel taxes on their $286-per-night rooms at the Omni Shoreham, while credit union executives staying down the street will not pay the D.C. hotel tax, among the highest in the country.
The ABA estimates credit union executives and volunteers for federally chartered credit unions could save as much as $500,000 during the four-day GAC. Representatives from state chartered credit unions are not shielded from the D.C. tax.
Bruce Whitehurst, president of the Virginia Bankers Association said credit union executives are increasingly using the ruling to avoid taxes on all travel.
