Tax

North Dakota public finance officials will halt all local general obligation bond deals conducted through the state starting Jan. 1 for at least the next six months as they await the outcome of a controversial measure to abolish property taxes.

DALLAS — Arkansas tax collections are expected to be 3.5% higher in fiscal 2013 than in fiscal 2012, but Gov. Mike Beebe has told state agencies not to expect more money next year.

State and local governments are urging Congress to allow them to collect sales taxes from online retailers, saying this will close a tax gap costing states billions of dollars per year and level the playing field for brick-and-mortar retailers.

DALLAS — The Texas Supreme Court determined Monday that the state's main business tax does not violate the constitutional prohibition against enacting a personal income tax without voter consent.

A health care issuer and borrower in Mississippi are discussing the possibility of entering into a voluntary agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to settle tax law violations that occurred after some bond-financed equipment was sold to a private group.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rick Snyder dodged a bullet Friday when a divided Michigan Supreme Court affirmed his controversial move to tax retirement income, a measure that balances the two-month-old 2012 budget and is part of the Republican governor's ambitious overhaul of the state's tax code.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments have temporarily dodged a bullet, with the bipartisan supercommittee's failure to come up with $1.2 billion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, tax experts and lobbyists said Monday.

Louisiana's entire congressional delegation and the Mississippi treasurer are urging the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to issue guidance allowing Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds to be issued after the year ends to refund previously issued GO Zone bonds on a tax-exempt basis.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s revenues are running a billion and a half dollars below budget estimates, making it more likely the state will make further spending cuts.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Standard & Poor’s on Friday slashed the rating on Jefferson County’s sole investment-grade credit to junk in response to the government’s filing for bankruptcy.

The Senate Thursday voted 95 to 0 to repeal a tax law provision that would require federal, state, and local governments to withhold 3% of certain payments made to private contractors beginning in 2013.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the tax-exempt bonds in a number of conduit deals where the borrowers entered into total return swaps and is questioning whether the bonds may be taxable because of arbitrage rule violations, market participants said Monday.

Regulatory priorities for the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this year and next include proposing guidance for Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds, according to plans they recently released.

DALLAS - Colorado voters refused a tax increase that would have raised $3 billion for the state's struggling school districts Tuesday and rejected several local measures that would have provided revenue for bond issues.

While the loss of Internet retail sales taxes is not currently significant enough to hurt state and local government credit ratings, it could become a problem in the future, Standard & Poor's said in a report issued Monday.

The Internal Revenue Service closed its audit of $28.72 million of special assessment bonds issued by the Bartram Park Community Development District in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2005 without any changes to the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for two representatives of the tax-exempt bond community to serve on its 21-member Advisory Committee for the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, called ACT.

WASHINGTON - The House voted by an overwhelming 405-to-16 margin on Thursday to repeal a tax law provision that would require federal, state and local governments to withhold and remit 3% of certain payments made to private contractors beginning in 2013.

WASHINGTON - Bond lawyers want Congress and the Treasury Department to allow muni issuers to current refund certain tax-advantaged bonds, even after they can no longer issue the bonds under existing tax law.

The Anchorage Assembly voted Tuesday to limit to 1% a property tax hike to support its school district in the next budget.