1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

I am a small business owner. And my Credit Union is crucial to my business. Credit unions promote the economic well-being of all their members, and even non-members benefit from what credit unions contribute to the financial services marketplace. As cooperative financial institutions that are member-owned, volunteer-directed and not-for-profit, credit unions’ success is directly reflected in the well-being of people. A new economic study on the credit union tax status revealed that the total benefit to U.S. consumers – credit union members and bank customers alike – from the significant presence of credit unions in financial markets was $234.6 billion over a 10-year period. Though for-profit banks – who receive billions of dollars in tax breaks each year – continue to push you to raise taxes and impose new costs on the more than 140 million credit union members like me, credit unions remain the best financial partner for communities across America. Because what bankers don’t tell you are the severe repercussions that would hamper economic growth and prosperity should the tax status be removed. The economic study shows that removing the credit union tax status would cost the federal government $33 billion in lost tax revenue, reduce GDP by $266 billion, and lose 822,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Now is the time to invest in our country, not eliminate a trusted financial partner that strengthens us all. They may say credit unions are growing too large, but credit unions hold only 8.8% of assets in financial institutions while the remaining 91.2% of Americans’ assets are held by banks. The fact that banks hold over 90% of the market does not stop their efforts to eliminate the competition from credit unions. I hope you will not fall for their arguments. As a credit union member-owner myself, I know that my credit union offers financial products that provide better returns on savings, reduced rates on loans, and lower fees. Taxing credit unions would jeopardize these benefits and would be nothing more than a new tax on me and my community! Please don't tax my credit union and put our community at risk of losing our member-owned, not-for-profit financial partner.