Tax

President Obama stepped up pressure on Congress Tuesday to avoid the "meat-cleaver approach" of automatic, across-the-board federal budget cuts that are set to go into effect on March 1.

The IRS is auditing two separate issuers to address the accuracy of form 8038-T, a project the agency has taken up as one of their fiscal 2013 goals. Form 8038-T is filed by issuers when making an arbitrage payment.

Three state treasurers are leading an effort in the nation's capital this week by meeting with policy makers and the White House to say that curtailing or eliminating tax exemption is not an abstract issue but rather it would have significant adverse impacts at the state and local level.

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., is working on the second phase of his comprehensive tax reform plan with the creation of small bipartisan working groups within the committee.

Market participants say munis are key to reaching the infrastructure goals laid out in President Obama's State of the Union Address, but caution that cuts to munis' tax benefits could make it difficult to fund the large-scale projects Obama described.

A bill that would allow states to collect taxes from online purchases will be introduced in both chambers of Congress on Thursday, after several setbacks at the end of last year.

President Obama is not targeting municipal bonds in his proposal to cap the value of tax exclusions and deductions at 28%, Jack Lew, his nominee for Treasury Secretary told lawmakers Wednesday.

It's unlikely that any short-term fixes to the upcoming fiscal crises, including sequestration, will include significant measures that would curtail or eliminate tax-exemption.

In the seven months since the Internal Revenue Service revamped its tribal economic development bond program to boost issuance and help spur job creation, it appears the program has yet again faltered.

President Obama is expected to focus on the need for infrastructure investments in his fifth State of the Union address Tuesday night amid a sluggish economic backdrop.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., has introduced legislation that would permanently extend the Build America Bond program, but at the lowest proposed subsidy rate yet.

Capital city Providence, R.I., expects to balance its budget by year's end, Mayor Angel Taveras said.

The IRS' tax-exempt bond office will start including questions about post-issuance compliance procedures and implementation in information document requests, an official said Thursday here at the Government Finance Officers Association winter meeting.

The Government Finance Officers Association plans to launch a grassroots campaign to help their members better understand how current threats to tax exemption could adversely affect their governments and what they can do to stave off these threats.

The Internal Revenue Service is providing temporary relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy by suspending certain requirements for qualified residential rental projects financed with tax-exempt bonds that are used to provide emergency housing for displaced persons.

President Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a short-term spending cut and tax reform package as a way to stave off the looming March 1 sequestration cuts that he said would be economically damaging to the U.S. economy.

The Treasury Department has reopened the sales of State and Local Government Securities as of Tuesday at noon.

State tax revenues rose 2.7% in the third quarter of 2012 for the eleventh consecutive quarter of growth, the Rockefeller Institute of Government reported Tuesday.

The Joint Committee on Taxation released its annual tax expenditure estimates showing $191.3 billion for public purpose municipal bonds over five years.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun auditing $60.625 million of Build America Bonds issued in June 2009 by Louisiana for transportation projects.