By Ray Birch
WASHINGTON—The final stages of the credit union tax fight are now clearly in sight, with the House Ways and Means Committee set to begin its markup of the tax legislation next Tuesday at 2 ET, sources told CUToday.info.
As CUToday.info has extensively reported, credit unions have been fighting hard in 2025 to preserve their tax break amid a great deal of uncertainty regarding the future of the tax exemption. Much of the concern has centered on the credit union tax break appearing on a House GOP document that lists the possible "pay-fors" for the budget bill.
“Getting details about what will be in the bill has been virtually impossible, but we have a lot of staff contacts who have been pretty talkative when it comes to timetables,” Washington credit union advocate John McKechnie told CUToday.info. “So, I've had next week circled on the calendar for a while. Now it's go time."
With the House scheduled to mark up its portion of budget reconciliation, the bill’s text would need to be released in the next few days, America's Credit Unions noted.
In recent weeks America’s Credit Unions, the leagues and the defense Credit Union Council have all ramped up efforts to defend the CU tax status, with DCUC calling for a unified approach.
John McKechnie
As CUToday.info reported, recently a large number of credit union organizations and system partners—including DCUC and America’s Credit Unions—sent a joint letter to Congress highlighting the need to preserve the credit union tax exemption, and detailing the benefits credit unions provideto their members, communities and overall economy.
In a previous CUToday.info report, ACU President and CEO Jim Nussle stated the trade’s group’s focus this year has been keeping credit unions out of the tax bill.
“That's the whole thing—stay out of the bill. Do not become one of the ‘pay fors,’ as they are called, the things Congress is looking for to offset the extension of the Trump tax cuts,” Nussle said. “But we realize it’s possible this year we may have to pivot the objective to get out of the tax bill.”
DCUC President and CEO Anthony Hernandez, in a previous CUToday.info report, stressed the effort to fight the tax bill started in the summer of 2024.
“In August we recognized there was real work to be done, even though the finish line was far ahead. We knew there was a threat growing, maybe one unlike we’d seen before. We knew we had to get to work,” Hernandez said.
Credit union industry veteran Larry Blanchard summed up what is facing credit unions and their tax break.
“When Congress starts debating if they're going to tax widows, orphans, and puppies—we need to watch out. And that’s where we are,” said Blanchard, a veteran credit union communications and advocacy professional, currently a public affairs consultant for TruStage.