Tax

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday will remarket $347.7 million of dedicated tax fund variable-rate refunding bonds originally sold in 2008.

DALLAS — The Arkansas Trucking Association has withdrawn its support for a proposed increase of the state diesel tax to support $1.1 billion of bonds for interstate highway projects.

The Michigan Supreme Court last week accepted Gov. Rick Snyder's request to hear a case regarding the constitutionality of taxing retirement income.

The Internal Revenue Service has completed a routine audit of $250 million of Build America Bonds issued by Denver School District No. 1, with no change to the subsidy payments the issuer receives from the federal government.

WASHINGTON - State and local government groups are launching campaigns to protect the tax-exempt interest for municipal bonds against cost-cutting efforts in Congress.

WASHINGTON — A Little Rock issuer is appealing an Internal Revenue Service ruling alleging that $3 million of its enterprise zone bonds are taxable because it violated an employment requirement.

The congressional Joint Tax Committee has estimated that President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposal to permanently reinstate Build America Bonds at a 28% subsidy rate would result in net revenue losses of $5.7 billion to the federal government over a 10-year period.

BRADENTON, Fla. - South Miami is seeking a taxable bank loan to fund a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service over impermissible uses of tax-exempt bond and bank loan proceeds to build a parking garage.

DALLAS — An audit of Harris County's finances has found questionable overpayments in transactions involving federal securities acquired or sold for the Texas county's investment portfolio.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $19 million of tax-increment refunding revenue bonds that were issued by Missouri's Florissant Industrial Development Authority in 2003.

An advisory committee to the Internal Revenue Service recommended that it treat conduit borrowers as taxpayers for compliance matters so it can deal with them directly and cause less unnecessary burdens for transaction participants.

A bill to phase out Lousiana's personal income tax over 10 years at a cost of more than $5 billion a year of lost revenue was approved Monday by the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The state sales tax generated $1.95 billion in May, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said last week, an increase of 10% from May 2010 collections.

An advisory committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday and submit five reports to the Internal Revenue Service, including one on the role of conduit issuers in tax compliance and another on tribal economic development bonds, according to members.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments will lose at least $10.1 billion this year in tax revenue not collected on Internet transactions - a figure some experts believe is too low - while federal legislation that would grant states the authority to collect online sales taxes has stalled amid anti-tax sentiment.

WASHINGTON — The Village Center Community Development District in Florida is asking the Internal Revenue Service for legal advice on whether it is a political subdivision — an issue critical to the tax-exempt status of million of bonds it issued.

Bond lawyers are urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to avoid issuing new guidance to address whether Build America Bonds issued by a state or locality would continue to exist, or be considered “extinguished,” if they were purchased by a related entity such as the public pension fund or state lottery.

DALLAS — Little Rock voters will be asked in September to approve an increase in the sales tax to generate $511 million over eight years under a plan outlined to city’s Board of Directors on Tuesday by Mayor Mark Stodola.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to include, as a priority, guidance on whether the benefits provided to bonds issued under the stimulus law would apply to refundings of those bonds.

The top Democrat on the House tax-writing committee defended itemized tax deductions Friday that would be repealed under some tax reform proposals, but did not take a position on whether to maintain the federal tax exemption for interest earnings from state and local bonds.