WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2014) – The R Street Institute welcomed news that the credit union tax exemption is protected in the latest draft of the House Ways & Means Committee’s tax reform bill.

Credit unions are not-for-profit, community-based organizations that serve members with a common bond. Throughout their history, they have serviced segments of the population and small businesses that have had difficulty obtaining credit from traditional bank channels.

“The committee should be commended for recognizing that the tax exemption for credit unions is vital to ensuring that credit unions can continue to provide the same level of service and competitive lending rates that customers have relied on for generations,” said R.J. Lehmann, senior fellow at R Street.

There are currently about 7,000 credit unions with roughly 96 million members in the United States. Recent research by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions finds that eliminating the credit union federal tax exemption would result in $17 billion in lost economic benefits.

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