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NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt exposed bank lobbyists' flawed attacks on the credit union industry's not-for-profit tax exemption in an op-ed published yesterday in The Hill. Hunt corrected the record by citing NAFCU's independent study that showed credit unions drive $16 billion in economic growth each year. 

Read the full op-ed in The Hill here.

Should the tax exemption be removed, Americans would lose $38 billion in tax revenue, $142 billion in GDP and 900,000 jobs over the next 10 years, Hunt stressed. "I do want to reiterate that anyone promoting the end of the credit union tax exemption is in essence supporting the elimination of billions in economic growth, billions in federal revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs," she added.

Hunt went on to note that the real issue bank associations should be discussing is their industry's $243 billion in fines since the 2008 financial crisis – a number that is nearly twice the asset size of America's largest credit union. 

Concluding the piece, Hunt argued that "whether the voice of the big banks believe it or not, the credit union exemption confers numerous benefits to American taxpayers – credit union members as well as nonmembers."

NAFCU has been a leader in defending the credit union industry’s tax exemption on Capitol Hill, and its preservation continues to be the association’s top priority. 

Last year, NAFCU was actively engaged on Capitol Hill and with the White House to ensure the credit union tax exemption was left alone during the tax reform debate. Additionally, the association met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss tax reform efforts and NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger was invited on FOX Business to explain the importance of the exemption.