Banks get a new advocate
Council inciting more verbal wrangling with Utah credit unions
The formation of a new advocacy organization, the Council for Sound Tax Policy, has incited verbal wrangling between representatives of credit unions and banks and signaled the run-up to what is likely to be another messy lawmaking session.
The council made its public debut at a meeting of the State Board of Education last week, seeking the board's endorsement of its platform. A statement distributed at the meeting states, "CSTP is currently working to change state and federal laws to implement a regular income tax on large credit unions' profits that are not returned to credit union members. CSTP is also working to change federal law to return to states the right to implement sales taxes on federally chartered credit unions and income taxes on large federally chartered credit unions."
Practically speaking, council president Hugh Matheson said that means the council will lobby for passage of a nonbinding resolution to the U.S. Congress. A resolution is in the works at the Utah Legislature's Financial Institutions Task Force and, in draft form, contained language reminiscent of the council's statement. If the task force can agree on the resolution, it will go to the Legislature for wider debate.
"We are trying to take a very positive approach," Matheson said. "Our efforts will be focused on coalition building. There's a lot of people of goodwill out there who don't want to attack credit unions but who believe that if you (credit unions) want to return your profits to your members, that's fine and we have no problem with you. And if you want to retain 20 percent of your earnings to grow, that's fine, too. Just pay income taxes.
"We're not talking about death here, we're talking about taxes," he said. "There are lots of businesses that do both — grow and pay taxes. And I'm sure the executives of these big credit unions are very able people who could make that happen."
Matheson said there is broad support for the group, and about 400 people already have endorsed the council, including teachers, taxpayer advocates and government officials.
But Scott Simpson, president of the Utah League of Credit Unions, said the council is little more than a "front group" for banks, pointing to Zions Bank in particular.
"This is the fourth shade of lipstick on the same pig," Simpson said. "I'm not sure why they have to hide to push their agenda, but the bankers have created, since 1999, four fake organizations to push their policy initiatives forward."
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