AUSTIN, Texas - (03/23/05) -- The tax reform bill carefullycalibrated during weeks of debate in the House was thrown in doubtTuesday when the state comptroller said the bill falls billions ofdollars short--$4.1 billion over two years--of being revenueneutral, a key goal of the legislation. The main goal of the billwas to produce $6 billion in new state revenue to offset areduction of $6 billion in local school property taxes each year.The revenue shortfall could put the credit union exemption back onthe table for debate when the bill moves over to the Senate for itsdeliberations on the reform. Buddy Gill, chief lobbyist for theTexas CU League, said he expects the Senate to discuss the creditunion exemption but is confident the exemption will survive. "Theyhave consistently said they are going to protect not-for-profits,including credit unions," Gill told The Credit Union Journal.Still, he said, Senate leaders are almost sure to change the billsignificantly because they don't like the payroll tax component ofthe measure. The bill passed last week by the House givesbusinesses the option of paying the state's current franchise taxor a 1.15% payroll tax on salaries up to $90,000 a year.
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Synovus Financial demonstrated at an industry conference how it is using Microsoft's Copilot to help its staff address customers' concerns.
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The U.S. arm of Spanish banking giant Santander has hired Swati Bhatia to oversee retail banking and its digital transformation efforts. Bhatia joins at "an inflection point" for the company, which aims to be "a digital bank with branches," CEO Tim Wennes said.
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Mariya Rosberg is named Americas head of banking and financial services at Marsh McLennan's Oliver Wyman unit; startup ZayZoon raised $15 million in a new funding round; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.
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Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
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Once a prominent figure spurring financial institutions to engage in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried's downslide began with the collapse of the digital asset exchange FTX in late 2022 and hit rock bottom with his sentencing to 25 years in prison.
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But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
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