Jennifer DePaul

If the tax exemption for municipal bonds had been repealed in 2012, up to 892,000 jobs. $46.9 billion of labor income and $71 billion annually in gross domestic product would have been lost, according to a new U.S. Conference of Mayors report.

Within the last month at least eight issuers indicated they will likely take advantage of its extraordinary redemption provisions to refund Build America Bonds due to reduced interest subsidy payments triggered by sequestration.

The Senate Finance Committee released a paper that contains tax reform options for non-income tax issues and related reforms, including a securities transaction excise tax on bonds and other debt.

Facing stiff opposition in the House from conservative Republicans, state and local urged lawmakers to pass the online sales tax bill.

Cliff Gannett, who helped establish the Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond office and is about to retire, warns muni market organizations should use more caution when endorsing transactions that turn out to be abusive.

Counties would have paid an extra $9 billion in debt service fees if municipal bonds were taxable over the last 15 years and approximately $3.2 billion if a 28% cap were imposed, according to a new study by the National Association of Counties.

With little fanfare, the Internal Revenue Service has begun requiring issuers of tax credit bonds to file information documents five times a year, adding costs and other burdens to cash-strapped school districts and other small issuers, market sources said this week.

Higher revenue collections have boosted the short-term outlook for states but the slow economic recovery and stubbornly high unemployment have many states worried that the fiscal improvements may be temporary.

The House Ways and Means Committee chairman began meeting one-on-one last week with individual committee members to get feedback on the next steps for comprehensive tax reform, but admitted there is a significant amount of work to still before passing legislation this year.

The Government Finance Officers Association is developing a new best practice paper on bank loan issues following the recent industry report about bank loan disclosures.

Moody's Investors Services is developing a guide for issuers on what to expect when they meet with rating agencies and how its rating process works.

Two-and-a-half years after financial banking analyst Meredith Whitney wreaked havoc in the municipal market by erroneously predicting hundreds of billions of dollars of defaults, she now says she never focused on munis.

Overall state tax collections continued to increase during the first quarter of this year, driven mostly by strong growth in personal income tax collections, continuing improvement in the economy and a large tax increase in California, the Rockefeller Institute of Government concluded in a report issued Wednesday.

In a precedent-setting decision that could have major ramifications for issuers, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled a Florida Community Development District is not a political subdivision that can issue tax-exempt bonds.

The GASB on Monday approved a proposed exposure draft on measurements for government financial statements and a preliminary views document on fair value accounting measurements.

In her first book Fate of the States: The New Geography of American Prosperity, financial banking analyst Meredith Whitney predicts the United States is undergoing a "geographic sea change" where economic power is shifting from longtime coastal stronghold states still reeling from the housing bust and moving towards interior states with lower tax burdens.

Members of the Government Finance Officers Association's debt committee voiced strong concern Saturday that the Internal Revenue Service's recent white paper on problematic bond transactions could be codified into requirements for the municipal bond market.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $35.3 million of Series A clean water revenue bonds issued by the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority in 2007.

Growth in outstanding state debt slowed for the third consecutive year to 1.3% in 2012 and is the slowest increase in debt in over 20 years, primarily due to concerns about the economy and federal fiscal policy, a new Moody's Investors Service report said.

Two lawmakers are circulating a bipartisan letter to colleagues asking for their support in preserving the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds.