Posted by Bob Lord
I have the third post in my series up at inequality.org, Tax-Free Municipals: An Unnecessary Giveaway.
I'm having second thoughts about the title. Did I imply that some giveaways are necessary?
The purpose of this series is to shine a light on the giant pools of assets producing income that is not subject to current taxation. The foregone tax revenue associated with these asset pools is enormous. And the lion's share of the tax benefits is flowing to the very rich. In the case of tax-free municipal bonds, putting aside the benefits flowing to states and their subdivisions, the benefit to wealthy individuals, developers, and large corporate interests exceeds $100 Billion over the next ten years.
But tax-free municipal bonds are only a part of the pool of tax-exempt assets benefitting the wealthy.
Here are the two prior posts in the series: