Tax

The San Diego Chargers have proposed a financing plan for a $1.8 billion joint use stadium-convention center in downtown San Diego that includes the issuance of $1.15 billion of tax-exempt bonds backed by a hike in the city’s hotel tax.

Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., introduced a bill in the House last week that would prohibit the use of tax-exempt bonds to build professional sports stadiums and for-profit entertainment arenas.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $73.6 million of excise tax revenue refunding bonds issued by the city and county of Denver in 2009.

Municipal finance leaders and a bipartisan group of lawmakers met Wednesday on Capitol Hill to discuss how tax laws might be eased so that more public-private arrangements could be used to finance public infrastructure projects.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., this week re-introduced legislation that would bar the federal government from bailing out state and local pension systems and would require state and local governments to file annual pension plan reports with the Treasury or risk losing their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds.

As the 2016 presidential race narrows down to a handful of candidates, it appears likely that business mogul Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the nominees with the most votes at the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Despite a $290 million funding increase for fiscal 2017, the taxation chairman of the American Bar Association on Thursday called on House and Senate appropriations committees to further increase funding to the Internal Revenue Service, which has been hampered in recent years by significant budget cuts.

Republican lawmakers from both the Senate and House introduced legislation on Thursday that would make the courts, rather than federal agencies, responsible for interpreting and determining the reasonableness of federal rules.

A coalition of business groups this week called for the House Judiciary Committee to vote on legislation that would allow states to collect sales tax on purchases from Internet retailers located outside of their borders.

The Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt bond office has made available for municipal securities the Industry Issue Resolution Program, under which it will work with a group of taxpayers to resolve frequently disputed or burdensome tax issues outside of the audit process.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Tax-Exempt Bonds recently released two model closing agreements, one for the general examination program and one for the Voluntary Closing Agreement Program.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service could issue final arbitrage rules, guidance on management contracts, and final issue price rules before the November elections, John Cross, Treasury’s associate tax legislative counsel told bond lawyers meeting here.

Bond lawyers on Thursday criticized the political subdivision rules recently proposed by the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, claiming they would trample states’ rights, alter the landscape for public financing, and jeopardize the tax-exempt status of millions of dollars of municipal bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a “correction” on Wednesday that makes its proposed definition of political subdivision truly prospectively effective.

Washington State Treasurer James McIntire wants Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to create a safe harbor for competitive sales of muni bonds in their re-proposed issue price rules.

The Bond Dealers of America is urging the Ways & Means Committee to preserve the tax exemption of municipal bonds, saying this is the “most effective financing method our nation’s critical infrastructure.”

A task force on tax reform led by the House Ways & Means Committee chairman released a mission statement Wednesday that listed a series of principles including limiting the deductions, exclusions and credits “that riddle the tax code today.”

Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., have launched a Municipal Finance Caucus made up of House members from both political parties who will fight to protect the tax-exempt status of municipal debt and ensure there is a robust market for municipal securities.

The Internal Revenue Service is preliminarily challenging the tax-exempt status of bonds issued in December 2010 by the Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority in South Carolina to provide permanent financing for a system to treat and deliver methane gas from a landfill site to Kimberly-Clark Corp.

The Internal Revenue Service is proposing new rules for political subdivisions issuing tax-exempt bonds that lawyers say will completely change the regulatory landscape and the way infrastructure has been financed in a number of states.