Realtors Boost CU Tax In Deal WithBankers

SALT LAKE CITY - (03/04/03) -- In making its way past the stateHouse and on to the floor of the Senate, the credit union taxinitiative has been aided by the Utah Association of Realtors, oneof the most powerfull lobbies in the state legislature. The realtors, who claim several members among both the House andSenate, have allied themselves with the banks on the credit uniontax, in exchange for an agreement by the bankers not to ventureinto real estate brokerage, a battle playing itself out on thenational level. "They've thrown themselves in with the bankers onthis one," one source, familiar with the state's financial turfbattles, told The Credit Union Journal. The Utah Association ofRealtors, the group's trade association, was the third mostgenerous campaign contributor, behind Gov. Leavitt's SpecialProject's Committee and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch's Campaign forAmerica's Future, with $222,548 in campaign contributions lastyear.