Municipal Bonds

Municipal Bonds Rates and Terms

Are Municipal Bonds Tax Free?

Municipal bonds can be thought of as loans to local, county, or state governments to fund public projects such as parks, libraries, public transportation (e.g. highways, bridges, roads), and other related infrastructure.

By investing in a municipal bond, an investor is lending capital to the issuer in exchange for:

• Semi-Annual Interest Payments
• Return of the Original Principal at Maturity

The maturity date of a municipal bond tends to range around one to three years, but there are longer-term issuances with maturity dates lasting more than a decade.

Municipal Bonds Definition (SEC)

Government Investment Product Structure

^{What are Municipal Bonds? (Source: SEC.gov)}

Learn More → Understanding Credit Risk of Municipal Bonds (Source: SEC)

Tax Free Municipal Bonds

The unique benefit to investing in municipal bonds is that the interest on municipal bonds is exempt from federal income taxes (and potentially also exempt from state/local taxes if certain requirements are met).

For instance, being a resident of a certain city or state for a specified number of years could be a determining factor.

Municipal bonds appeal particularly to risk-averse bond investors that seek a steady source of income with the priority of capital preservation.

With the added tax benefits, the interest paid on the tax-exempt municipal bonds is normally lower than the interest due on comparable fixed income instruments like corporate bonds.

Despite the fact that municipal bonds are not backed by the federal government in the manner that treasury bills and treasury bonds are, they are still considered to carry a very low risk of default.

To summarize, the benefits of investing in municipal bonds consist of the following:

• Predictable Source of Income
• Lower Default Risk Compared to Corporate Bonds
• Opportunity to Invest Locally – i.e. Familiarity with Issuer/Projects Funded
• Tax Benefits

Types of Municipal Bonds

General Obligation vs. Revenue Bonds: What is the Difference?

There are two major categories of municipal bonds:

1. General Obligation (GO): Bonds backed by the “full faith and credit” and taxing power of the issuing jurisdiction (i.e. the local/state government).
2. Revenue Bonds: Bonds backed by a specific revenue source (i.e. projects) such as highways

General obligation bonds are issued by states or cities and are NOT secured and backed by asset collateral – rather, GOs are backed by the creditworthiness of the issuer and taxing power of the jurisdiction.

While the issuers cannot print money like the federal government, they can tax residents to have enough to pay bondholders (and avoid defaulting).

By contrast, revenue bonds are NOT backed by the taxing power of the government. Instead, revenue bonds are backed by the revenue generated by projects or other sources, most commonly highways (i.e. toll fees) and lease fees.

Certain revenue bonds are “non-recourse”, which means that if the underlying revenue source fails to produce revenue, the bondholders do not have a claim.

Conduit Issuer: Public Services Capital Raising (3rd Party)

Municipal bond issuers can also raise capital on behalf of entities providing public services (e.g. non-profit universities, hospitals, medical institutions, public transportation, utilities, safety).

Here, the municipality is considered a “conduit” issuer, meaning that a different 3^rd party is responsible for meeting the periodic interest and principal repayments.

In the event of default, the issuer – i.e. the local, county, or state government – is ordinarily not required to compensate the bondholders.