Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- The Utah League of Credit Unions has given the state's congressional delegation petitions signed by 150,000 people to counter a legislative resolution that sought repeal of some tax exemptions for credit unions.
House Joint Resolution 1 urged Congress to provide a "principled, fair and equitable tax structure for financial institutions, including credit unions and commercial banks" and establish a classification of nonexempt credit unions.
Howard Headlee, president of the Utah Bankers Association, said the petitions "will have little or no impact on policy that comes out of Washington.
"The only thing these petitions demonstrate is the depths the credit union lobbyists will sink to, to mislead credit union members into superficial political action," he said.
Sen. Bob Bennett's spokeswoman, Mary Jane Collipriest, said he told the credit union association's representatives Wednesday that neither the petition nor the resolution has been placed on the Senate Banking Committee's agenda for debate. Bennett is a member of the committee.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, met with members of the credit union organization Wednesday, one day after he met with officials from the Utah Bankers Association.
"It's always good to get information from both sides," said Bishop's press secretary, Scott Parker.
Scott Simpson, president of the Utah League of Credit Unions, said the resolution is asking Congress to "solve a problem that doesn't exist." A partial tax exemption doesn't give credit unions a competitive edge over banks, he said.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
