For the second consecutive year, the Biden Administration failed to promote the tax-exemption in its FY 2025 Treasury Green Book– an annual release of the Administrations tax priorities.  While the Biden White House has promoted infrastructure investment throughout this term, the lack of prioritization of muni’sheading into the election and likely Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is concerning. This follows a policy paper from the conservative American Enterprise Institute, that called for an elimination of the tax-exemption for all bonds ..read more

The Municipal Bonds for America coalition continues to lay the groundwork for a proactive advocacy effort to promote and protect munis as chatter in DC on proposals to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act pick up steam. This week, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-paritisan DC based think-tank, hosted an event on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expiration, and ways to extend the package in a budget neutral manor. As part of the offset proposals, the elimination of the tax-exemption was discussed as part of an “aggressive” option. This follows a policy paper f ..read more

This morning, the House Committee on Ways and Means will host a hearing to “mark-up” or debate and amend the tax portion of the budget reconciliation package.  This weekend, Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) released the text for the revenue provisions, and the draft included a plethora of muni provisions, including ALL BDA, MBFA, and state and local muni priorities. Expected today is robust debate over how to pay for the package and a path forward on amending the current SALT cap. The MBFA continues to advocate in favor of all muni provisions and is set to meet w ..read more

During the ongoing MBFA fly-in this week, we have learned that the House Committee on Ways and Means is in the process of developing a hearing on infrastructure financing that will include a robust debate on the municipal market and the expansion of financing tools needed. The hearing, titled “Leveraging the Tax Code for Infrastructure Investment,” will be hosted by the full Committee on Wednesday, May 19th – a sign that draft tax title legislation for the eventual infrastructure package should soon follow.  We plan to draft testimony in the coming days. The MBFA and BDA continu ..read more

We expect that later this morning Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) will introduce the “Local  Infrastructure Financing Tools (LIFT) Act.” The bill will include several BDA and MBFA priorities, including: Reinstate advance refundings as they were in pre-2018 tax law. This provision would take effect 30 days after the date of enactment. Expand bank-qualified bonds. The bill would raise the annual issuance limit for bank-qualified bonds from $10 to $30 million, an index that limits annually for inflation, and apply the issuance test at the level of the borrower, not the issuer, so that it will appl ..read more

Following the announcement of the Biden infrastructure plan, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) signaled that he plans legislative changes to the original draft, including ensuring that bond financing plays a role in the final package.  His statements this week reiterate what the Chairman discussed during the BDA’sEngage Capitol Hill 2021 event last week. The Chair stated, “The Congress will offer some suggestions — we will accept some of what he is proposing. If we can improve upon the president’s proposal, we want to do that. I intend to guard them in the committee.” Thes ..read more

Last week, (June 14,2019) the Municipal Bonds for America (MBFA) Coalition canvased Capitol Hill in support of municipal finance for infrastructure development and the tax exemption through multiple events on Capitol Hill over a two-day period. MBFA Executive Chair Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, S.C. and current president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors presided over the events. You will find a recap of the events below. Educational Seminar on Municipal Bonds  and Capitol Hill Lobby Day On Thursday, June 13th, the MBFA Coalition held 23 meetings with key members of Congress and their st ..read more

Co-chairs of the House Municipal Finance Caucus submit a bi-partisan Dear Colleague letter to the entire House of Representatives in support of the tax exempt status of municipal bonds.  The letter states, “The federal tax exemption reduces the cost of issuing municipal bonds, making important community infrastructure cheaper for taxpayers and freeing up resources for other needs.”  The Municipal Bonds for America (MBFA) Coalition appreciates the support that Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) and Steve Stivers (R-OH) to raise the level of awareness to their colleagues in the House on this impor ..read more

On May 20th, members of the House Municipal Finance Caucus, led by Congressmen Ruppersberger (D-MD) and Stivers (R-OH), introduced H.R. 2772 a bill to restore the tax-exemption for advance refunding bonds.  Titled the, “Investing in Our Communities Act,” the bill will enable governments to refinance outstanding bonds for infrastructure and free up resources for other community projects. You can read more about the bill here ..read more

Executive chair of the Municipal Bonds for America (MBFA) Coalition Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, S.C., submitted an opinion piece to the Bond Buyer advocating for the full reinstatement of advance refundings, while also explaining why this important financing tool is significant for local government infrastructure investment and local control. Commentary Mayors in support of advance refundings ..read more