Tax

State budgets seem to be "stabilizing and settling into a period of modest growth," but recovery from the Great Recession is still "a work in progress," a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures found.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $49.04 million of revenue bonds issued by IAH Public Facility Corp. in Polk County, Texas, in 2004 and 2006 for an adult detention facility.

Municipal market groups often at odds with one another are for once in agreement, with each telling the Internal Revenue Service that its proposed issue price rules are unworkable and would hurt issuers as well as the market.

The Internal Revenue Service thinks that interest on $720 million of bonds issued by the New Hampshire Health and Education Facilities Authority from 1998 to 2011 should not be tax-exempt.

Washington State Treasurer James McIntire is urging the Internal Revenue Service not to adopt its proposed issue price rules, warning they would increase issuers' borrowing costs.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $23.83 million of Series 2007 variable rate demand bonds issued by the Colorado Health Facilities Authority.

The Internal Revenue Service has told Avondale, Ariz. that it believes $29.8 million of Build America Bonds it issued in 2009 do not qualify for subsidy payments because of tax law violations.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., will introduce a bill phasing in a 15 cent increase in the federal gasoline tax, currently at 18.4 cents per gallon.

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear challenges from Amazon and Overstock to a New York internet sales tax law.

The Internal Revenue Service has chosen to audit $65 million of general obligation, limited tax, school improvement bonds issued by the Washoe County, Nev. School District in 2007.

An arrangement in which an authority issued bonds to finance facilities that are leased to a state would not cause the bonds to be private-activity bonds, according to a recent IRS private letter ruling.

The Fannin County Public Facility Corp. in Texas is negotiating with the Internal Revenue Service to settle a dispute over $30.78 million of revenue bonds it issued in 2008 to finance a jail.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun auditing $12.93 million of general obligation bonds issued in 2006 by the Brighton School District No. 27J in Colorado.

New York State tax collections are running slightly better than projections in the first seven months of the fiscal year.

The new position on political subdivisions that the Internal Revenue Service has taken in a bond-related tax dispute with a community development district in Florida has had a "chilling effect" on the issuance of such bonds and has hurt existing bond issues, bond lawyers are warning.

Tax reform legislation is unlikely to move forward this year, but municipal bond market participants shouldn't think that the threat to the tax exemption for munis is gone, observers in the market said.

Action by Congress to eliminate both the tax exemption for municipal bonds and the state and local tax deduction would cause the loss of $71 billion or 0.35% of total gross domestic product and about 417,000 jobs or 0.28% of total employment over the next decade, two government groups said Thursday.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of about $171 million of bonds issued by the East Baton Rouge, La. Sewerage Commission in 2006 without changing the bonds' tax-exempt status.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of series 2005E and series 2007B hospital revenue bonds issued by the Highlands County, Fla. Health Facilities Authority with no change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

The IRS completed an examination into $153 million of bonds issued by Miami in 2007 without a change in tax exempt status.