Tax

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report analyzing the revenue effects of 188 budget options, including replacing exempt interest earnings from muni bonds with tax credits beginning in 2011, which it says would generate $19.8 billion over the next 10 years.

The Treasury Department has informed seven members of Congress that their districts' large increases in unemployment last year will not allow them to issue more Recovery Zone bonds because the stimulus law dictates that allocations of the bonds are to be based on decreases in employment.

Lawmakers on the House and Senate tax-writing committees have introduced separate but identical bills that would authorize up to $3 billion of tax-exempt qualified forest conservation bonds that could be used to finance projects to conserve forests throughout the nation.

The Treasury Department is seeking public comments on tax-advantaged college savings plans that involve municipal securities, including whether tax subsidies are the most cost-effective way to make college affordable for low- and middle-income families.

The Louisiana Public Facilities Authority has entered into a closing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service over a $50 million lease-to-own deal, under which it has agreed to pay $50,000 in return for the IRS' maintaining the tax-exempt status of the bonds, an LPFA official said yesterday.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $50.9 million of revenue bonds issued in 2003 by the University and Community College System of Nevada, now called the Nevada System of Higher Education.

WASHINGTON - Market participants have been quick to criticize a bill proposed by Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., that would tax municipal and other over-the-counter derivatives, saying that the legislation could freeze the derivatives market by creating prohibitively high costs for such contracts.

CHICAGO - As expected, Cook County, Ill., Board President Todd Stroger vetoed a recent move by the board to roll back part of an unpopular sales tax increase that made Chicago's sales tax the highest in the nation.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service has expanded its audit of bonds issued by the Village Center Community Development District in Florida to include six more bond issues, as well as two sets of bonds issued by the related Sumter Landing Community Development District, to finance projects at the Villages retirement community. The amount of debt under audit is now nearly $400 million.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comments from municipal issuers on how much time and effort it takes to both apply for federal payments under the Build America Bonds program and comply with looser regulations for small-issue industrial development bonds.

State and local authorities might issuer fewer tax-exempt bonds to fund water infrastructure projects if Congress approves pending legislation to establish a $10 billion water trust fund, market participants said Friday.

An electric and gas utility can demolish tax-exempt bond-financed pollution control facilities that are no longer in compliance with environmental standards without jeopardizing the tax status of the bonds, the Internal Revenue Service concluded in a recent private-letter ruling.

CHICAGO - Ending a six-year drought in new capital spending, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday signed a $31 billion, partially bond-financed construction program into law as lawmakers prepare to return to work today to resolve an impasse over a new fiscal 2010 operating budget.

The Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond branch has hired two new bond attorneys and an investment banker and is still searching for more tax-law specialists.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission will consider whether to propose additional amendments to its Rule 15c2-12 on municipal bond disclosure on Wednesday, according to a notice released this week.

WASHINGTON - Private-activity bond issuance plummeted by more than 51% last year from 2007, as market turmoil hit the sector hard and prevented issuers from being able to put together affordable deals, according to survey results and market participants.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra has asked the Treasury Department whether a manufacturer in his western Michigan district can relocate operations from abroad to the United States and take advantage of the recovery zone bond program.

SEATTLE - Processing applications and distributing payments to issuers that have sold Build America Bonds present a "significant challenge" for the Internal Revenue Service tax-exempt bond office, an official said here Sunday.

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department issued a notice yesterday detailing the new $2 billion tribal economic development bond program, including how tribal governments should apply for the tax-exempt bonds and the types of projects that can be financed with them.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is conducting audits of $38.2 million of revenue bonds issued by Howard County, Md., for a continuing-care retirement community and $49.3 million of revenue bonds issued by the Tompkins County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency for Ithaca College.