Tax

In an unusually busy Monday, municipal bond issuers tried to beat the clock and complete sales ahead of the impending tax reform.

Approval of the tax reform bill led the Florida Development Finance Corp. to cancel its Monday meeting to approve a deal for the train project.

The final tax bill released late Friday afternoon saved private activity bonds but advance refunding bonds will disappear.

The future accessibility of private activity bonds and stadium bonds is the massive tax bill's gift to the municipal market this holiday season. However, the bill also brings coal in the form of a year-end halt to advance refundings and a drop in the corporate tax rate.

As the exact language of the final tax legislation looms, municipal market participants eager wait to see how it pertains to private activity bonds, there will be $11 billion of issuance awaits as issuers make one final push.

The municipal bond market will be hurt less than expected by the tax bill with the retention of private activity bonds, but will still be hurt by the loss of advance refundings and the huge reduction in the corporate tax rate to 21%.

After several years of sluggish revenue growth, U.S. states enacted cautious budgets for fiscal 2018, according the National Association of State Budget Officers.

Republicans, however, are still negotiating the PAB provisions and have been considering eliminating the ability of issuers to carry forward for up to three years any of their unused allocations of PABs, as well as scrapping some smaller categories.

St. Louis is moving closer to borrowing to help finance upgrades the arena that hosts the Blues hockey team.

The U.S. is moving toward a territorial tax system for businesses that would hurt Puerto Rico by treating it as a foreign country.