Romero Rainey: Credit unions should pay taxes—period

Credit unions should pay taxes, as The Wall Street Journal rightly pointed out in a recent editorial, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a LinkedIn post.

Recent Editorial: In the post, Romero Rainey pushed back against an America’s Credit Unions letter to the editor responding to the Wall Street Journal editorial, which noted that Republicans working next year to prevent further tax increases on companies that pay federal taxes “should not ignore outfits that have managed to avoid them.”

Credit Union Claims: “Unsurprisingly, the credit union lobby continues to cling to vague claims about ‘community investment’ and ‘benefits,’ deflecting from the core issue: credit unions have strayed from their original purpose established by Congress to serve small, member-driven groups of limited means,” Romero Rainey said.

Increasing Scrutiny: Public scrutiny of credit union policy has continued to intensify this year, with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) recently reiterating his support for subjecting large credit unions to Community Reinvestment Act regulations following reports of discriminatory lending at Navy Federal Credit Union and the first-ever Justice Department redlining settlement with a credit union.

ICBA View: Following the stadium deal announcement in August, ICBA said it is the latest example of how credit unions are violating the limits established by Congress to justify their federal tax exemption. ICBA has repeatedly called on Congress to investigate the credit union tax and regulatory advantages, including in recent op-eds on LinkedIn and in American Banker.