A statewide lobbying effort by credit unions is being credited with turning back a tax bill even before it was introduced. The state's annual legislative session ended without State Rep. William Smith ever introducing a proposal. Jon Paradise, a spokesperson for the Maine CU League, said credit union and league officials worked to dissuade Smith from going forward with his tax proposal immediately after the state lawmaker made his intentions public.
"He wasn't anti-credit union. His big beef was with the profits banks were making," Paradise told The Credit Union Journal of the lawmaker's separate bill to increase the state tax on banks, which died in the legislature. Paradise said credit union representatives contacted Smith by mail, phone and e-mail in an effort to educate him on the differences between banks and credit unions, in an apparent success to stop the tax bid. "From our standpoint, we presented a strong argument," said Paradise.
