Tax

SIFMA urged a House Ways and Means tax reform working group to leave municipal bonds alone and warned that tax credit bonds as an alternative are not an effective option.

The National Retail Federation sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Friday urging him and other Senators to vote in favor of an online sales tax bill.

Deficit hawks Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson have released a new, modified deficit reduction plan that would cut $5.2 trillion from deficits over the next decade and raise revenues in part by capping the value of tax exemption and other exclusions.

About 18% of New York localities are seeking to override a property tax cap in the current fiscal year, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported.

Twelve organizations representing the 501(c)(3) bond community submitted comments to a House Ways and Means tax reform working group urging them to protect tax-exempt bond financing.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed a motion this week to skip the Senate Finance Committee process and take the online sales tax bill to the Senate floor and hold a vote as early as next week.

Alaska's legislature this week passed legislation pushed by Gov. Sean Parnell that would cut oil taxes and cost the state billions.

Forty-two state treasurers are again urging tax writing members of Congress to maintain the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds, claiming that any changes will result in long-term adverse ramifications for the country's public infrastructure.

The Government Accountability Office, which offered recommendations for federal government agencies to achieve greater efficiency, said that the application process for money for state revolving funds and other programs is duplicative and costly for communities.

Legislative efforts to phase out Louisiana's income tax were tabled on tax day over fears the bills would not pass.

Despite economic growth, the majority of public finance sectors still face a negative outlook for the remainder of 2013, according to a new Moody's Investors Service report.

The Education Finance Council submitted a comment letter to a House Ways and Means Committee working group, urging it to revise tax law provisions to allow qualified scholarship funding corporations to use tax-exempt bonds to finance private student loan programs.

The Internal Revenue Service is requesting public comment on existing rules governing when tax-exempt bond proceeds used for reimbursement of expenditures.

Despite his entitlement reform proposals intended to serve as a bargaining chip with Republicans, President Obama's 2014 budget is dead on arrival primarily due to a provision to raise $580 billion in new tax revenues as made clear during two key congressional hearings Thursday.

An Oklahoma Senate plan to delay a reduction of the state income tax rate for a full year will be opposed by Gov. Mary Fallin and the House leadership.

All 42 voters in Vernon, Calif. turned out to support an election to decide three tax measures city leaders say is needed to close an $8 million budget gap, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

State Controller John Chiang said Wednesday that state revenues in March came in $395 million, or 7.2%, above estimates in the governor's proposed budget.

President Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget again proposed a 28% cap on tax expenditures including municipal bond interest for the top 2% of income earners, despite efforts by muni market participants lobbying against the proposal.

The $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect in March will have a low to moderate impact on public finance housing bond issuers, a new Moody's Investor Service report said Tuesday.

Voters in St. Louis and St. Louis County last week passed Proposition P, a sales tax increase to help fund trail and park improvements and renovations to the Gateway Arch.