Across the country, credit union members are speaking out and pushing back on efforts to tax credit unions.  California-based credit union member Joseph Green-Heffern shared his concerns about a new tax on credit unions by writing to his local newspaper.

Using language shared in America’s Credit Unions’ action alert and on the Don’t Tax My Credit Union website, Green-Heffern highlighted the benefits of the tax status, reflected in the services that he accesses:

“I know that my credit union offers financial products that provide better returns on savings, reduced rates on loans, and lower fees. Taxing credit unions would jeopardize these benefits and would be nothing more than a new tax on me and my community.”

Green-Heffern criticized the banking industry’s wish for Congress to tax credit unions, stressing that the banking industry is hypocritical in their claims about credit unions:

“[The banks] may say credit unions are growing too large, but credit unions hold only 8.8% of assets in financial institutions, while the remaining 91.2% of Americans’ assets are held by banks,” he said. “The fact that banks hold over 90% of the market does not stop their efforts to eliminate the competition from credit unions. I hope you will not fall for their arguments.”

Green-Heffern asks Congress to “[p]lease don't tax my credit union and put our community at risk of losing our member-owned, not-for-profit financial partner.”

America’s Credit Unions has activated grassroots outreach in the  “Don’t Tax My Credit Union” effort. Credit unions can use the Member Activation Program resources to encourage credit union members like Green-Heffern in telling the credit union difference and asking Congress to protect the credit union tax status.

Read the op-ed here.