By Rick Craig
Long-time credit union antagonist Harris Simmons, chairman of Salt Lake City-based Zions Bank, will be the chairman of the American Bankers Association in November 2005.
Because of his failures in attempting to tax Utah state-chartered CUs, he is now turning his attention to a more national field in his attempt to thwart credit unions. His current effort involves a banker-appointed task force that has spent the last two years developing an anti-credit union resolution with these elements:
- There would be two different types of credit unions—those exempt from revenue taxation and those considered bank-like and thus subject to tax.
- Taxation is a states-right issue and states should be allowed to tax both state and federal charters.
- Congress should review the expansive field of membership provisions it granted to NCUA via HR 1151.
- NCUA should be restructured.
Utah’s House of Representatives’ Financial Institutions Task Force co-chair is Rep. Jeff Alexander (R). In the last election, he received $5,000 from Zions Bank and $2,500 from the Utah Bankers Association—and didn’t even have an opponent.
Simmons has had an interest in taxing credit unions since he wrote his Harvard Business School thesis on the topic. And he doesn’t appear ready to abandon the notion any time soon. While such obsessions can lead even smart executives to fail, as CEO Network speaker Sydney Finkelstein told us on Monday, we all need to keep an eye on his actions as Simmons moves his fight to a national level.
Rick Craig
President/CEO
America First CU
rcraig@americafirst.com
