Tax

Tax reform legislation should preserve the tax exemption for municipal bonds and reinstate Build America Bonds for infrastructure financing, Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters Thursday.

Municipal market participants see a slowing of Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service guidance and rules in 2017, but plan to closely watch for tweaks to management contract guidance, final requirements for public approval of private activity bonds and political subdivision rules.

State and local groups told members of Congress that tax-exempt bonds are the cornerstone of infrastructure financing, as the lawmakers consider how to increase spending on roads and bridges as well as tax reforms that could entail restrictions on tax exemption.

Six lawmakers are joining the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, while two are joining its counterpart, the Senate Finance Committee.

A flurry of Republican bills and resolutions were introduced during the opening week of the 115th Congress, several of which aim to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and require a balanced federal budget.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday in his inaugural speech as Senate Minority Leader that he hopes for more direct spending in President-elect Donald Trump's proposed $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

Nearly three-quarters of state pension plans and more than half of local plans cut benefits and/or raised employee contributions to combat rising employer costs in the five years following the financial crisis, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College said Tuesday.

While most muni market participants agree that 2017 could be the year of comprehensive tax reform, they have mixed views on whether the muni exemption is safe under the tax proposals of President-Elect Donald Trump and House Republicans.

States will have a modest increase in their capacity to issue private activity bonds in 2017, based on data from the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Senate Finance Committee Democratic staff sends colleagues a memo detailing problems with the Republican Blueprint for tax reform.