DES MOINES, Iowa—Nearly 1,000 credit union advocates descended on this state’s capitol Wednesday to push back against a state bill that would increase taxes on Iowa’s credit unions, while lowering them for banks.
Credit unions representatives from around the state were joined by CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle and members of the Iowa Credit Union League.
“This bill has been presented as a tax cut for working families, but that’s impossible if it would amount to raising taxes on the state’s more than 500,000 credit union members,” said Nussle. “This is a bad bill for Iowans. It would make accessing safe and affordable credit provided by not-for-profit cooperatives, and that’s unacceptable.”
The league estimates that credit union members in Iowa save more than $105 million each year in better interest rates and lower fees, noting that the bill would impact these rates and fees, “which is particularly notable since approximately 85% of Iowa credit union loans are consumer loans,” the league said.
“Unable to find broad support for increasing taxes on credit unions, the bank lobby urged Senate Republicans to take a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy,” said Pat Jury, president/CEO of the Iowa Credit Union League. “They failed to recognize that a credit union is a credit union regardless of size, its membership or the services offered. An attack on one credit union is an attack on the cooperative spirit that guides our industry.”
Jeff Disterhoff, CEO of University of Iowa Community CU, estimated that the bill would cost his members $2.2 million in additional taxes, while the same bill gives banks at 48% tax decrease.
A Republican member of the Iowa House, Walt Rogers of Cedar Falls, who opposes the legislation spoke during the rally, according to RadioIowa.com.
“During my second campaign I had a friend of mine come up to me and say: “Why do you support credit unions?’ And I said: ‘Well, do you know what they do? They’re a co-op, non-profit — that their profits go right back to their members.’ I said: ‘I love that model. I believe in that model and that’s what I’m going to support,'” Rogers said.
Nussle, who served as a Congressman from Iowa from 1991 to 2007, wrote to the Iowa State Senate in February voicing strong opposition to the bill.