Please follow this link for a good analysis on 2016 tax reform efforts, Congressional Leaders Gear Up for Broad Tax Reform Push.
0 Comments
Yesterday, the Bond Buyer released an article, linked here, concerning the Joint Committee on Taxation's report about the estimated cost (loss of Federal revenue) of tax-exempt bonds for the next 5 years. As the article states, "The JCT revenue estimates play a key role in tax and budget legislation, particularly when lawmakers want the revenue losses to balance out with the revenue gains of the overall provisions."
Tax Reform Revived Under New House Leadership – – New House Speaker Paul Ryan announced last week that he wants to have a tax reform bill passed by the House before the Republicans nominate their presidential candidate in 2016. New Chairman of the House Ways And Means Committee, Kevin Brady of Texas, also talked this week about tax reform but he was not specific about timeframe.
This is not unexpected. While it is likely that a tax reform bill in the next six months will focus more on international corporate tax, trying to prevent the inversions where companies in effect incorporate in foreign countries to lower their tax burden, this obviously is a signal to us to keep up and even increase the pace of educating members of Congress and their staffs about nonprofit financing. I've spoken to a number of authorities recently about expanding and reenergizing their efforts and am glad to help in any way. Floor Vote on HR 2209 – Classifying Municipal Securities as High Quality Liquid Assets – – We continue to join our ally, the Government Finance Officers Association and its Public Finance Network, in the effort to reverse banking agencies’ regulation that excludes most investment-grade munis from classification as high-quality liquid assets that are considered safe for large banks to purchase. Reform legislation was passed by the House Financial Services Committee. As you can see in this letter, which will go from various muni groups, including us, to the members of the House, there is an attempt to get a House vote this year. If you are of a mind and want to contact your House members on this subject the letter should serve as good background.Please contact me for further information. A couple of updates for you folks…
1. I had the privilege last week of speaking on a panel at the Bond Dealers of America meeting in Denver on legislative issues affecting munis. See description in agenda included below. I shared the podium with the President of the Large Public Power Council and a staffer for Colorado Sen. Bennet. My appearance was part of a reciprocal arrangement with BDA where its CEO, Mike Nicholas, spoke to us in Seattle and is part of our ongoing close liaison with this important representative of a significant part of the muni market place. 2. You may have seen my quotation in today's Bond Buyer about a positive report from the Congressional Research Service – not often a source of positive reports for tax-exempt bonds – that it concluded that corporate income tax base broadening approaches that would, for example, restrict the purchase of muni's might not save significant dollars and could end up burdening nonprofits and governments. That report is attached.
4. Federated Funds and related interests have formed a coalition pushing legislation to reverse the SEC rules on the floating NAV—to get back to so called—“stable value money market funds”. See http://protectinvestorchoice.com/#home. AHA, NACUBO and NAHEFFA have been approached to be active supporters. Advocacy Chair Martin Walke and I conferred in Seattle and our judgment is that based on the unlikelihood of any legislation passing and the unclear importance of this issue to our sector that we will, as we have in the past, take a lower profile and work more closely with the GFOA and other issuers. Some of you and your borrowers may be approached directly to get involved and if you are please let me know. As always, if anyone has any questions or comments ,please let me know. Below is an interesting new NABL paper on good disclosure policies.
National Association of Bond Lawyers NABL Releases Paper on Disclosure Policies and Procedures The National Association of Bond Lawyers has released Crafting Disclosure Policies, a paper to provide NABL members with tools to advise issuers in developing written disclosure policies and procedures. The paper explores the functions and benefits (as well as risks) of written disclosure policies, the subjects that drafters should consider addressing, and practical considerations for drafting such policies. The paper also includes a summary and discussion of relevant enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While recognizing that disclosure policies and procedures must be tailored to an issuer’s individual circumstances, structure, and characteristics, the paper also includes an annotated statement of policies and procedures. The annotated statement is not intended to be a recommended policy for any issuer. Rather, it is intended merely to illustrate the subjects and additional considerations that might be considered in formulating disclosure policies. In addition, sample disclosure policies may be found on the Securities Law and Disclosure Committee’s page on NABL’s website. While many of these examples were prepared by NABL members, neither NABL nor its Board has approved or adopted a preferred template or form of disclosure policies. These examples are provided merely to assist counsel in understanding what other practitioners may have recommended and what issuers have adopted in their specific circumstances. Click here to access Crafting Disclosure Policies. The NFMA has finalized its White Paper on the Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest in Municipal Finance Transactions. The paper is available at www.nfma.org.
Please view this publication for an explanation of new issue price regulations.
|
AuthorCharles A. Samuels Archives
December 2019
Categories |