The reason credit unions are not taxed the same as banks is that since they are Not-For-Profits, taxing the credit union would lead to a double tax on the customers who are also the Member-Owners. Since credit unions are not profit driven the money they make goes towards being a successful business and any surplus is returned to the Member-Owners, often in the form of service benefits and lower fees as well as through dividends payed.

Customers of a bank are not affected as directly by the taxes placed upon the banks profit, which is not returned in order to work for the customers but rather paid out in dollar amounts to Share/Stockholders.

Gee, if only someone would give the not-for-profit medical care pimps, like Legacy, the same treatment.

Legacy is a non-profit. Very different than a co-op which is a not-for-profit. Co-ops are community owned businesses, they need to meet thier bottom line but the profit gets returned to the member-ownership who are often defined by thier relationship and use of the business.

Non-profits are benevolent organizations that rely heavily on grants & donations aside from the revenue they generate from thier services or product. Not to mention that the ownership is often not those who use or interact directly with the services or product of the organization. As a result of not being owners they also have no democracy, the users of the organization rarely elect the board or have representation on the board.