Capital Briefs: Bill Would Limit Tax Liability of Thrifts

House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, R-Tex., introduced a bill late Wednesday that would require thrifts to pay back taxes only on those bad-debt reserves taken after 1987.

Under Rep. Archer's proposal, additional breaks would be given to small institutions.

The bill, HR 2491, also would allow thrifts to deduct from their taxes the proposed one-time assessment for recapitalization of the Savings Association Insurance Fund.

The thrift industry has raised concerns about the prospect of a forced "recapture" of a portion of their bad debt reserves in the event of a proposed elimination of the thrift charter. Both the Senate and House banking committees have proposed legislation that would abolish the thrift charter as part of merging the bank and thrift insurance funds.

A spokesman for America's Community Bankers, the thrift industry trade group, called Rep. Archer's proposal a "welcome start," but said the organization opposes any recapture of bad debt reserves.

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