WASHINGTON Numerous members of the House and Senate made their support for the credit union tax exemption clear this week during NAFCU’s Congressional Caucus, even before any threat to the exemption has surfaced during the debate over tax reform.
“Credit unions have enjoyed the benefit of a tax exemption because you do what others don’t do,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who served on the board of Heritage Trust CU in Charleston, D.C., for seven years. “You go into communities and make relationships with people that others don’t make.”
“I’ve decided to protect our credit union tax status with my voting record,” said Scott, a member of the House who was appointed to a Senate vacancy last year.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., pledged to “fight as hard as I can to ensure no federal corporate income tax is imposed” on credit unions.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a strong credit union supporter in Congress, said “I am not in any way, shape or form in favor of eliminating the tax exemption.”
But perhaps the most important Congressional source made no pledges. Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, appeared by video and spoke about tax reform but did not mention the credit union exemption, despite praising credit union involvement in the debate. “The credit union community has been an active supporter of this [reform] effort,” said Camp.
