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 Action Please By:
March 5, 2015

U.S. Representatives Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague”  letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, urging them to preserve the tax-exemption for municipal bonds and oppose proposals that would cap or eliminate the deduction for municipal bond interest.

Tax-exempt municipal bonds have been the primary methods used by states and local governments to finance necessary public capital improvements and public infrastructure projects. $3.2 trillion have been invested in infrastructure through long-term tax-exempt municipal bonds in the past decade, with $258 billion invested in water and sewer facilities. See the NACWA-Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) report – The Impacts of Altering Tax-Exempt Municipal Bond Financing on Public Drinking Water & Wastewater Systems – detailing the impacts should Congress eliminate or scale back the tax-exemption.

Unfortunately, the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds is being threatened by proposals to cap the deduction on tax-exempt municipal bonds in the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Proposal as well as the desire by some in Congress to find new revenue sources to shore up the federal budget.

Clean water agencies currently face significant financial challenges as they seek to meet a growing array of Clean Water Act and other statutory requirements as well as increasingly complex affordability pressures. Eliminating or capping the current tax exemption on municipal bonds ix the wrong measure at the wrong time. Borrowing costs for public utilities will increase, more costs will be shifted to local ratepayers, less infrastructure will be upgraded or built, less jobs will be created, and local economies will suffer.

Urge Your Representatives to Sign On Today!

Please urge your Representatives to join Representatives Hultgren and Ruppersberger and support the tax-exempt municipal bond status. The deadline for signatures is Thursday, March 5th. To find your representative and their contact information, please refer to this site. For any questions or additional assistance, please contact Pat Sinicropi at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .