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Muni bonds' tax break looks safe for now

The president and Treasury secretary have expressed support for keeping tax breaks in place on municipal bonds

Donald J. Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have expressed support for maintaining the tax break on municipal bonds. The market takes them at their word.

As the Republican president embarks on a push for tax cuts, top-rated state and local government bonds due in five years are yielding just 65 percent of comparable Treasuries, holding near a more than seven-year low, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That shows that investors are still placing a high value on the tax exemption. If they expected the tax break to be eliminated -- or chipped away at -- municipal yields would rise closer to Treasuries to compensate for that risk.

"We're not pricing in any scenario for the tax exemption to go away or be limited," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics. "The statements out of the administration have been favorable."

Last week, Mnuchin told the Wall Street Journal that the preferential tax treatment is a subsidy for local governments, not wealthy bondholders. That echoed the arguments of state treasurers and city finance officers, who argue that it allows them to borrow cheaply for public works given that investors are willing to accept lower yields because they don't have to pay taxes on the interest they receive.

The Treasury Secretary and top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn left the tax-exemption out of a briefing on the broad outlines of the administration's tax plan in April. And Trump expressed support to U.S. mayors in a meeting before his inauguration.

Other factors have worked to hold up prices in the municipal market recently, too. The amount of new bond sales has dropped 15 percent this year, even though money has continued to flow into the market.

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20170913/FREE/170919970/muni-bonds-tax-break-looks-safe-for-now

Tim Holler