Utahns want banks to back off credit union-tax battle

Once again we find ourselves in the midst of the seemingly endless "bank/credit union battle." We're all sick of it, but once again, credit unions are held hostage by the economic and political power of the Utah bank lobby.

The current cause is House Joint Resolution 1, encouraging Congress to tax credit unions. Some argue that such a toothless resolution is a waste of time and largely meaningless. That would be true if one ignores both history and the future. Utah credit union history is one of relentless assault by a well-funded and formidable group of very determined bankers.

If Utah credit unions sit idly by on HJR1, our future could entail battling Utah's "bank-borne virus" in other states and Congress — that is the stated aim of the resolution. That is why the Utah League of Credit Unions is forced again to defend itself.

The bank lobby denounces recent credit union advertising and communication with our members and the public to fight HJR1. Banks claim that their own sense of propriety keeps them from doing likewise. But just as very few people would advertise a "free poke in the eye with a sharp stick," the banks know from experience that ads promising "higher taxes, plus increased fees and loan rates" fail to convince the public. They don't advertise their message to the public because the public won't have it. Banks confine their marketing to "back rooms," away from public scrutiny.

Our members (1.3 million strong in Utah) have produced thousands of e-mails and telephone calls to representatives asking them to reject HJR1. Despite that public call, the Utah House voted to advance this ill-conceived, single-interest drivel on to the Senate.

Two recent articles from a local daily on the same business page illustrate the absurdity of HJR1. One wearily declared the fact that the "bank/credit union battle" was again in full swing. The other article trumpeted yet another quarter of record profits for Zions Bank, Utah's largest financial institution, and the instigator and financier of most bank assaults on Utah credit unions. In fact, Zions alone — a single Utah bank — earned in a single year about five times the earnings of all Utah credit unions combined.