Utah Resolution Targets CUTaxation

SALT LAKE CITY - (12/01/04) -- A legislative task force studyingcredit union taxation approved a non-binding resolution Tuesdaythat urged Congress to step into the state's decade-long warbetween banks and credit unions. The resolution, which must now beapproved by both the state House and Senate, calls on Congress toinvestigate NCUA's approval of several large community charters inUtah and explore whether states should be allowed to assess salesand other taxes on federally chartered credit unions. "We're askingCongress to give us some justification as to why they (creditunions) are exempt," State Rep. Jeff Alexander, co-chair of thetask force, told The Credit Union Journal after the panel vote.Scott Simpson, president of the Utah League of CUs, said he wasdisappointed in the resolution but expected its outcome. "Theoutcome of this task force was preordained. So here we go again,"said Simpson, about the long-running legislative battle with thebanking lobby that has extended from taxation to field ofmembership to ATMs and back to taxation. Alexander, who sponsoredthe 2002 bill to tax large credit unions, prompting a massconversion to the tax-exempt federal charter, acknowledged a lackof interest on the part of Congress to intervene in the bank-creditunion battles. "We want them to develop an appetite for this," hesaid.