Federal Advocacy
Issue Resources
Tax Exempt Municipal Bonds
There is no doubt that state and local governments powered through adversity the last two years, continuing to provide quality infrastructure, healthy communities and rally a strong bond market despite the crippling effects of the 2017 tax reform law.
Advance Refunding Issuance
Advance refundings represented 27% of municipal bond market activity in 2016 and 19% in 2017. Additionally, the TCJA decreased the overall corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and eliminated other tax incentives that could impact overall demand for municipal bonds.
Bank Qualified Municipal Bonds
Bank-qualified bonds were created in 1986 to encourage banks to invest in tax-exempt bonds from smaller, less-frequent municipal bond issuers, and to provide municipalities with access to the lower cost borrowing that they need in order to provide services and invest in schools, roads, bridges and other projects.
Remote (Online) Sales Tax
Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the previous century (before the internet existed) established federal law with respect to remote sales tax collection as we know it today – the 1967 National Bellas Hess v. Department of Revenue of Illinois case and the 1992 Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.
State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction
The SALT deduction reflects a partnership between the federal government and state and local governments. The deduction is fundamental to the way states and localities budget for and provide critical public services, and a cornerstone of the U.S. system of fiscal federalism. It reflects a collaborative relationship between levels of government that had existed for over 100 years.