Maine CUs Nip Tax Bid In TheBud

AUGUSTA, Me. - ()6/27/05) -- A statewide lobbying effort bycredit unions is being credited with turning back a tax bill evenbefore it was introduced. The state's annual legislative sessionended last week with a proposal by State Rep. William Smith everintroducing a proposal to enact an annual franchise (income) tax onMaine's 12 state chartered credit unions, as he had proposed doing.Jon Paradise, spokesman for the Maine CU League, said credit unionand league officials worked to dissuade Smith from going forwardwith his tax proposal immediately after the state lawmaker made hisintentions public. "He wasn't anti-credit union. His big beef waswith the profits banks were making," Paradise told The Credit UnionJournal, of the lawmaker's separate bill to increase the state taxon banks, which died in the legislature. Paradise said credit unionrepresentatives contacted Smith by mail, phone and e-mail in aneffort to educate him on the differences between banks and creditunions, in an apparent success to stop the tax bid. "From ourstandpoint, we presented a strong argument," saidParadise.