This Washington
State Senators Don't Want to Pick on Big Banks
In Tuesday's Morning Fizz, we published a letter
that James Pishue, head of the Washington Bankers Association—the banking lobby—sent to legislators in Olympia.
The letter urges lawmakers not to cancel an estimated $67 million tax exemption that big banks get on interest income earned off first-time mortgage loans.
Senators have reportedly been swaye to keep the exemption in place (the House budget scotches the exemption) by one argument in particular.
The WBA makes the point that banks will pay about $63 million in a new tax on out-of-state companies that do business in Washington state (part of this year’s batch of new revenue streams—expected to bring in $73.1 million—being proposed by the state).
State senators PubliCola spoke with give the WBA props for not opposing the new out-of-state tax (referred to as the "nexus" tax) and seem to buy the argument that banks shouldn't be getting picked on by killing the exemption on mortgage interest—a loophole that was originally designed for hometown favorite WaMu.
Maybe. Or maybe by "not opposing" the nexus tax, Senators mean the banking industry said that while they'd pipe down about the nexus tax, they'd go nuclear if their mortage exemption got canceled.
The letter urges lawmakers not to cancel an estimated $67 million tax exemption that big banks get on interest income earned off first-time mortgage loans.
Senators have reportedly been swaye to keep the exemption in place (the House budget scotches the exemption) by one argument in particular.
The WBA makes the point that banks will pay about $63 million in a new tax on out-of-state companies that do business in Washington state (part of this year’s batch of new revenue streams—expected to bring in $73.1 million—being proposed by the state).
State senators PubliCola spoke with give the WBA props for not opposing the new out-of-state tax (referred to as the "nexus" tax) and seem to buy the argument that banks shouldn't be getting picked on by killing the exemption on mortgage interest—a loophole that was originally designed for hometown favorite WaMu.
Maybe. Or maybe by "not opposing" the nexus tax, Senators mean the banking industry said that while they'd pipe down about the nexus tax, they'd go nuclear if their mortage exemption got canceled.
