CU Times reported on Feb. 21 that the nation's bankershave asked the Senate Banking Committee to tax large creditunions. Loudly, and in unison, credit unions must say NO!

Income taxes on “big” credit unions would be the proverbialcamel's nose under the tent-flap. It's salami tactics. Bankers knowthey can't take on credit unions nationwide, so they are goingstate by state, peer group by peer group, slice by slice.

We need to stand up, together, now. But we also need to becomesmarter about how we do it. Fast.

Millions of postcards and phone calls saying “Don't tax mycredit union!” can still matter. But they'll no longer be enough.Not by a long shot. The audience has fragmented, and it's changed.Politics in our country is different than it was in the past andbankers are ahead of us in figuring that out.

We need to find new ways to talk about who we are, what we do,why and how we do it, and why and how it makes us different frombanks. We need to find ways to talk about IMPACT, about mission –yes, we do – and about public policy, the reasons we exist and theunique roles we fill. Most of all, we need new language to talkabout positive net revenue.

Income, in the language of taxation, is something that deliversmeasurable economic benefit to the underlying owner. Credit unionshave no income. Period. Credit union owners do have dividendincome, which does get taxed. Do we talk about that? We look andare taxed a lot like S Corporations, except our owners don't haveany stock to sell. Do we talk about that?

Tax big credit unions? Because they “look like banks?” Whichones look like banks? How do they look like banks? Bigcommercial portfolios? Nope! Holding companies with investmentbanking subsidiaries? Not here. Billion-dollar stock dividends?Seriously? The ability to raise capital? That would be anotherno!

We need to redefine the terms of this debate to highlight whatmakes us different. Let's stop talking about income statements andprofitability. Those terms describe for-profit companies. We haverevenue, not income. We have margin, not profit. Words matter, andif we keep letting bankers choose the words that describe us, thebattle is already half lost.

Chris Howard

SVP

Callahan & Associates

Washington, D.C.