Trump tax plan

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance is reportedly bringing an influx of consumers to credit unions this tax season, but those institutions are hamstrung on the extent to which they can turn that opportunity into new business.

Banks earned $59.1 billion in the fourth quarter, a 133% year-over-year increase, due to a one-time charge in the year-earlier quarter and a lower effective tax rate throughout 2018.

While student, auto and credit card balances are at or near record levels, housing debt is shrinking, credit quality is weakening a bit and lending standards, at least in some sectors, are tightening.

Readers respond to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overhaul of its payday loans rule, debate reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, consider regulatory exemptions for regional banks and more.

Major U.S. banks shaved about $21 billion from their tax bills last year — almost double the IRS’s annual budget — as the industry benefited more than many others from the Republican tax overhaul.

Banks earned $62 billion in the third quarter thanks to tax reform and higher asset yields, while the Deposit Insurance Fund crossed a statutory threshold.

Unlike previous spots produced by the group that just backed candidates, the latest ones reflect a somewhat different approach.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued a proposal that would allow pass-through businesses like Subchapter S banks to deduct 20% of their business income as part of the new tax law President Trump signed last year.

Democrats attempted to counter Republicans’ praise for the increased investment, wages and bonuses resulting from the tax bill by tying it to Wells Fargo's recent scandals.

With plenty of cash on hand, many commercial firms have had little need to tap existing credit lines.

Amid their recent policy victories and record earnings, big banks have also been forced to grapple with the possibility that commercial lending — the lifeblood for large regionals — may never fully come back.

Banks were helped by better loan spreads thanks to higher net interest margins, but the recently enacted tax cut helped boost profits by 27% from a year earlier.

In letters to the six largest U.S. banks, the Ohio Democrat accused the banking sector of moving call center jobs overseas while reaping benefits from the recent tax cut law.

The Pittsburgh bank opted to give more than half of its employees $2,000 pay hikes instead of the bonuses handed out by many rivals.

Long considered a political third rail in the U.S., the movement's tax exemption is taking some heat. Here's a sampling of how other countries have handled this debate.

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions and the Credit Union National Association sent a joint letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch on Wednesday defending the credit union charter and its tax status.

Tax reform caused Fannie Mae to burn through retained earnings that had been approved just two months ago and to post a fourth-quarter loss. CEO Timothy Mayopoulos argued it was a one-time event that overshadowed strong fundamentals.

Profits fell 42% at the Birmingham, Ala., bank because of a $121 million tax charge in the fourth quarter, but net interest income and noninterest income each rose 14%, softening the blow of the one-time tax hit.

Credit union groups were scrambling Wednesday to respond to a letter from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch questioning whether the industry had outgrown its income-tax exemption.

Swelling capital levels, tax cuts and changing attitudes about post-crisis regulation could encourage bigger banks to issue the one-time payouts to reward shareholders and better manage their returns.