WASHINGTON – Complaining that banks have been given numerous opportunities to shelter income from taxes, CUNA today asked for a meeting with Treasury Department officials to make the case why credit unions should get more parity.

"Even as it has reinterpreted existing law to favor banks, the IRS has been aggressively reinterpreting existing law to increase the tax liabilities of state-chartered credit unions, leaving less funds for them to lend. After years of indecision, the IRS has issued nineteen Technical Advice Memoranda overruling prior informal rulings that revenues from certain financial products offered by credit unions were substantially related to their tax exempt purpose, and thus exempt from tax.," CUNA President Dan Mica wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

"This harsh position has imposed substantial burdens on credit unions, diverting funds which might better be used to provide loans to consumers for homes, cars, and education," he added.