Tax

When Congress returns to Washington in September, members will have to address a number of important fiscal issues in a short amount of time.

Ongoing cuts to Build America Bond subsidies are "credit negative" for issuers, Moody's Investors Service said in its weekly credit outlook for U.S. public finance last week.

The municipal bond tax exemption could be at risk under a proposal from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to reduce student debt.

A city's authority can have additional time to spend proceeds of its new clean renewable energy bonds after unanticipated events caused a "significant delay" in the proceeds being committed and spent, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled.

The municipal bond tax exemption saved state and local government borrowers about $715 billion in debt service expenses from 2000 to 2014, according to a white paper issued by the International City/County Management Association and the Government Finance Officers Association.

Susan Gaffney has been hired as executive director of the National Association of Municipal Advisors.

The Internal Revenue Service claims that some of the bonds issued in 2013 by the Scottsdale, Ariz., Municipal Property Corp. to refinance the term of a lease for a garage are taxable.

Using dynamic scoring, the Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that legislation to extend tax provisions, including several related to bonds and Puerto Rico, would result in only $86.56 billion of revenue losses, compared to its earlier estimated $96.95 billion.

The Senate Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2016 financial services bill would significantly underfund the Securities and Exchange Commission and undermine the Internal Revenue Service's ability to carry out basic functions, Office of Management and Budget director Shaun Donovan warned committee leaders in a letter this week.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have included two new bond-related projects on their priority guidance plan for 2015-2016.

A memorandum recently issued by Rebecca Harrigal, director of the Internal Revenue Service tax-exempt bond office, provides examiners and managers in the office with interim guidance on conducting audits of Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds.

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., have introduced bipartisan disaster tax relief bills that include several bond provisions.

House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told congressional staff members Tuesday that everything should be on the table for a comprehensive tax-reform bill, while municipal bond market participants and lawmakers defended the tax exemption for munis.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a bipartisan, modified, two-year tax extenders bill that includes several provisions relating to bonds and Puerto Rico.

A two-year tax extenders bill that includes bond and Puerto Rico provisions and is slated to be voted on Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee would result in revenue losses of $95.6 billion from FY-2016 to FY-2025.

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have introduced identical bills that would make permanent and enhance the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program.

Bonds issued to finance student loans will not become taxable if their issuer takes action to cease being a qualified scholarship funding corporation, the Internal Revenue Service said.

Some municipal bond experts in Washington were pleased to see that the reports from Senate Finance Committee’s tax reform working groups, released Wednesday, did not recommend that municipal bonds be taxed.

John Hoeven, a Republican Senator and former governor of North Dakota, is keeping states' needs in mind with his bill to create Move America Bonds.

The Government Finance Officers Association is encouraging its members to urge their Congress members to support legislation that would allow states to require out-of-state online retailers to collect their sales taxes.