Jennifer DePaul

Rep. Pat Tiberi, chairman of a House Ways and Means Committee panel, called for the elimination of most tax expenditures as part of comprehensive tax reform, which he said should be as pro-growth as possible and simplify the tax code.

WASHINGTON — As President Obama and likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney battle over tax fairness and who has the lowest income tax rate, it turns out they both pay less in taxes than the average American who earns much less.

WASHINGTON — State government tax collections jumped 8.9% in 2011 from the previous year, but the overall fiscal picture is not promising because most states are still below peak collection levels, according to an analysis by the Rockefeller Institute.

WASHINGTON — In the absence of clearer federal tax rules on issue price, a handful of bond lawyers have taken it upon themselves to assist issuers in reviewing and understanding the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA pricing data for new muni bonds, sources said.

WASHINGTON — Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., have the highest combined state and local tax rates, at 10%, among major U.S. cities, a new report found.

WASHINGTON — Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala., have the highest combined state and local tax rates, at 10%, among major U.S. cities, a new report found.

Bond attorneys are studying a recent IRS ruling that allowed Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to issue $1 million of bonds that were not subject to the alternative minimum tax.

The IRS has launched a compliance practice research team that will seek to identify red-flags indicating questionable muni bond transactions.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service closed an audit without taking any enforcement action on $600 million of Build America Bonds issued by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago that some market observers claimed had been mispriced.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing two special assessment bond issues totaling $64.46 million that were sold in May 2006 by the Wentworth Estates Community Development District in Florida and went into default.

As the Government Accounting Standards Board prepares to hold its first public hearing on a proposal for state and local governments to provide five-year projections with their financial statements, groups are complaining the plan is costly, burdensome and outside GASB's mission.

A Congressional Research Service analysis suggests there are impediments to broadening the tax base by eliminating or reducing tax expenditures - such as tax-exemption for municipal bond interest - because they are viewed as "serving an important purpose" and are "quite popular" with the public.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comment from the public and federal government agencies on the guidance it issued for provisions in the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, which provided additional volume cap for tax-exempt housing bonds.

State and local tax revenues in the fourth quarter of 2011 grew by 2.1% from a year earlier, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth, the Census Bureau said in a report issued Thursday.

Rep. Bob Gibbs has drafted legislation that would create a TIFIA-type program to lower the cost of capital for water utilities, but state and local officials testifying at a hearing on Wednesday worried that it might eventually be used to replace, rather than supplement, state revolving loan funds.

WASHINGTON — Reps. Steve LaTourette and Marcia Fudge of Ohio have introduced a bill that would provide $4 billion for states and land banks to issue newly-created 30-year tax credit demolition bonds to demolish vacant, foreclosed and abandoned homes across the country to prevent "a tsunami of blight."

The Internal Revenue Service unveiled a voluntary closing agreement program for certain tax-exempt student loan bond issuers, giving them until July 31 to apply for relief under the settlement program.

State tax revenue growth weakened in the fourth quarter of 2011 due to weak economic conditions as well as the expiration of temporary tax increases and the stimulus provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Rockefeller Institute said in a report.

It is critical for all of the muni market groups, particularly issuers, to band together now to lobby Congress to preserve tax-exemption, while the tax committees are writing policy papers on tax reform issues in preparation for next year, a long-time muni bond lobbyist told market participants meeting in Miami on Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Joint Committee on Taxation has released revenue estimates for muni bond provisions in President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget showing a gain of $520 billion over 10 years for the proposed 28% cap on the value of tax-exempt interest and other tax preferences.