The taxation issue brought up in a report by a quasi-administration panel is as much rite of passage into budget season as a learner's permit is to a nearly 16-year-old.

Remember when you were 16 and drove around in an old rust bucket that was probably mom's old station wagon. It was ugly but it worked. That's how the bankers see the tax issue when this comes up each year: it ain't pretty but dang it if doesn't put a bee in the bonnet of those credit unions.

The American Bankers Association wrote a letter encouraging the taxation of credit unions. "The credit union industry has dramatically changed from the days when granting credit unions tax-free status might have made policy sense. It has never made fiscal sense," CEO Ed Yingling wrote. The Wisconsin Bankers Association and probably others made similar statements.