Economists anticipate 2021 will be a banner year for business spending, and it seems the credit union industry wants to hit the ground running. In a recent announcement, the Florida-based Vystar Credit Union agreed to buy the Georgia-based Heritage Southeast Bank, becoming the second credit union-bank acquisition of 2021, the first involving a bank over $1 billion in assets, and the largest such purchase in history. This news is the latest in the concerning trend of many large, multibillion dollar tax-exempt credit unions picking off community banks, and confirms that this practice is likely to continue through the year. Congress must examine how our broken tax code is contributing to the unequal treatment of banks and credit unions before this trend worsens.
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