CUNA is reaching out to leagues and member credit unions with a toolkit stocked with resources to demonstrate the wide variety of public benefits that exist due to the existence of not-for-profit financial cooperatives. CUNA members are being provided with a collection of resources that help amplify the good work that credit unions do for their communities while defending against attacks from banks on their tax-exempt status.  

The toolkit designed for leagues can be found here, and the toolkit for credit unions here.

“Bankers seem to take the occasion of Tax Day each year as the chance to spread false narratives about credit unions, their tax status and their members,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “Fortunately, credit unions have facts and research to highlights the numerous public policy benefits to every American due to the existence of credit unions, and we’re empowering our member credit unions to push back against these falsehoods wherever necessary to set the record straight.” 

These resources include information that can be used to respond to false bank attacks through letters to the editor and op-eds in local and regional publications, and included graphics for social media highlighting CUNA’s recently released white paper on the credit union tax status. 

Highlights from the white paper include: 

• Credit unions delivered an estimated $16.5 billion in direct and indirect financial benefits 2018 — an amount that is roughly eight times larger than the $1.8 billion tax expenditure Congress has granted credit unions. 
• Since 2007, credit unions have contributed nearly $142 billion back into the economy. 
• Credit unions collectively paid an estimated $20 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, and credit union members paid and estimated $1.5 trillion in state and federal taxes on proceeds and interest in the most recent tax year.  
• While the credit union tax expenditure was approximately $1.8 billion in 2018, lower tax rates have reduced the tax burden on U.S. banks by nearly $30 billion due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs act.