Newsroom

April 11, 2013

NAFCU, Ways and Means group confer

April 11, 2013 – NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker, Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Dan Berger and other senior staff are headed to the Hill today to reinforce the value of credit unions' tax exemption during a meeting with a House Ways and Means Committee tax reform working group.

The working group, with Ways and Means members Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and John Larson, D-Conn., serving as chairman and ranking member, is focusing on tax reform affecting financial services. The NAFCU representatives will draw on the independent study of the credit union exemption, which the association released last fall, in making the case for preserving the exemption.

Also participating in today's Hill meeting are NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler, Chief Economist and Director of Research David Carrier and General Counsel and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Carrie Hunt.

NAFCU's report on the tax exemption study shows the credit union exemption confers some $10 billion in benefits annually to Americans, whether or not they are members of credit unions.

Today's meeting takes on new urgency given the president's release Wednesday of his fiscal year 2014 budget and the looming deadline for addressing the federal debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling, set at $16.8 trillion, was suspended until May 19 in late January, and no plan has been set by lawmakers and the White House for averting a federal default.

NAFCU is closely following all Hill discussions of federal budget and tax matters for their potential impact on the credit union exemption. Credit unions are encouraged to download NAFCU's study of the exemption and use that in ongoing talks with lawmakers about the value of the exemption to all Americans.