Muni Minute 2/29/16: Super Tuesday

In the latest installment of Muni Minute, The Bond Buyer's 60-second video series that examines a top municipal market story of the coming week, we take a look at Super Tuesday. As 14 states get set to hold primary elections, we review how each candidate could impact munis as president.

VOICEOVER: As 14 states get set to hold primary elections, Super Tuesday results could impact the municipal bond market depending on who ends up coming out on top.

Hillary Clinton has a proposal to reduce student debt that can put the muni tax exemption at risk by limiting some tax expenditures. Bernie Sanders has been tied as an infrastructure guy and if he wins, he'll want to promote his Rebuild America Act which would allocate $1 trillion to building projects.

Generally, Republican plans call for tax cuts, and the lower the income tax rate, the harder it would hit munis. For individuals, Mark Rubio, John Kasich, and Donald Trump would trim the top rate, while Ted Cruz would have a single rate, and Ben Carson would eliminate all deductions and loopholes. According to a study from the International City County Management Association and the GFOA, the tax-free status of municipal bonds saved governments about $714 billion in extra interest payments from 2000 to 2014. That's like building a state of the art stadium, ballpark, and arena for every professional sports city in the US and Canada six times over.

I'm Aaron Weitzman. This has been your Muni Minute.