This is the second in a series of posts about neutral principles that make for “good” tax-advantaged bond legislation.
We pick up our series as the Senate prepares for a final vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill in the coming days. In the last post, we stated the general rule that a good piece of tax-advantaged bond legislation tells issuers how and when they can refund bonds issued under any new bond program. Here’s an example in current law to illustrate the point.
In 2005, Congress created a new category of tax-exempt “exempt facility” private activity bonds for highway facilities and surface freight transfer facilities.[1] These bonds are exempt from the typical private activity bond volume cap[2] but are subject to a special volume cap administered by USDOT. Unlike the typical PAB volume cap (which is apportioned among the states annually based on population), the special volume cap for these bonds is a national $15 billion cap that is available indefinitely, although all of it has now been spoken for.[3]
The Public Finance Tax Blog
By Johnny Hutchinson on August 6, 2021
Squire Patton Boggs