I find myself explaining this more often than I care to:

We pay payroll taxes. We pay property taxes. We pay sales taxes. We pay state and local taxes. What we don’t pay is federal income tax, and that’s not a loophole; it’s a conscious, long-standing policy decision that recognizes our not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative structure.

And yet, despite this clear distinction, calls to “tax credit unions” keep coming. This debate isn’t new. In fact, it’s been following us for years, surfacing again and again whenever misunderstandings about our mission collide with political rhetoric or lobbying efforts from for-profit banks.

We were created to serve people of modest means, many of whom were excluded from traditional financial institutions. That’s not just some feel-good tagline! It’s our origin story, later codified in the Federal Credit Union Act of 1934, passed during the Great Depression to give everyday North Americans a fair shot at financial stability. Congress intentionally granted credit unions a federal income tax exemption not because we’re small but because we’re different.

That decision has held firm for over 90 years, reaffirmed repeatedly by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who understand the importance of a cooperative financial system that works for people. And every time the exemption comes under heavy fire—during the 1970s tax reform hearings, the 1998 Credit Union Membership Access Act debates, the post-2008 financial crisis scapegoating, and most recently as part of broader calls for tax reform—credit unions are forced to defend the core values that define our model.

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We do not exist to enrich investors. We exist to enrich communities. Every dollar we make is reinvested into our members, through lower interest rates, fewer fees, higher savings returns, and targeted financial education programs…and the credit union tax exemption is what makes that possible.

Removing the exemption wouldn’t just hurt credit unions, it would hurt the people we serve: students taking out their first car loan, teachers building savings for retirement, nurses looking to refinance high-interest debt, and families who simply need a fair, transparent financial partner. In fact, many of our members come to us precisely because other institutions turned them away or saw them as an opportunity for profit, not partnership.

Let’s also keep some perspective. Credit unions collectively hold just about 8% of U.S. financial assets, while the country’s largest banks continue to grow through mergers and acquisitions, accumulating more power with less local accountability. We’re not dominating the market; we’re filling in the gaps.

That’s why I was both proud and relieved to see the House Committee recently preserve the federal income tax exemption for credit unions. It’s not just a policy decision, it’s a recognition of the value credit unions bring to the financial system, especially for those underserved or overlooked by larger institutions.

But I also know this won’t be the last time we have this conversation. We’ve been here before, and we’ll be here again. Our exemption isn’t about tax avoidance. It’s about upholding a nearly century-old public promise that cooperative finance has a role to play in ensuring economic inclusion and resilience for all.

But our exemption from federal income tax is not a handout or a privilege. It’s a recognition of our unique structure, our deep community roots, and our unwavering commitment to putting people over profit.

If we lose sight of that—if we allow cooperative values to be dismissed or misrepresented in the halls of Congress—we don’t just lose a tax exemption. We risk losing one of the last truly people-centered institutions in North American finance.