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Solving the Muni Puzzle: Who Benefits from Tax Exemption of Government Debt?

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  • Konul Amrahova Riegel

Abstract

I provide a new approach to measuring interest savings associated with issuing tax-exempt municipal bonds (munis) and present empirical evidence offering a solution to the long-standing “muni puzzle.†I show that the tax policy is effective and consistent with theory once I account for idiosyncratic issuer risk and investor preferences. I match tax-exempt munis to near-identical taxable munis issued by the same government at the same time with the same security characteristics to identify the slope of and the trend in implied marginal tax rates. Results of the random coefficients model, which mitigates issuer- and issuance-level unobserved effects, predict the slope of the marginal tax rate to be consistent with asset pricing theory and the tax profile of the typical muni investor. Findings also imply cyclicality over time and heterogeneity in implied marginal tax rates across issuers due to variations in idiosyncratic risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Konul Amrahova Riegel, 2021. "Solving the Muni Puzzle: Who Benefits from Tax Exemption of Government Debt?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 49(1), pages 71-105, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:49:y:2021:i:1:p:71-105
    DOI: 10.1177/1091142120960372
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(2), pages 553-609.
    2. Francis A. Longstaff, 2011. "Municipal Debt and Marginal Tax Rates: Is There a Tax Premium in Asset Prices?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 721-751, June.
    3. Facundo Alvaredo & Lucas Chancel & Thomas Piketty & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "Distributional National Accounts," Post-Print halshs-03342488, HAL.
    4. Chalmers, John M R, 1998. "Default Risk Cannot Explain the Muni Puzzle: Evidence from Municipal Bonds That Are Secured by U.S. Treasury Obligations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(2), pages 281-308.
    5. Tania Babina & Chotibhak Jotikasthira & Christian Lundblad & Tarun Ramadorai & Andrew Karolyi, 0. "Heterogeneous Taxes and Limited Risk Sharing: Evidence from Municipal Bonds," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 509-568.
    6. Daniel Bergstresser & Randolph Cohen, 2015. "Changing Patterns in Household Ownership of Municipal Debt: Evidence from the 1989-2013 Surveys of Consumer Finances," Working Papers 87, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Luke Spreen & Ed Gerrish, 2022. "Taxes and tax‐exempt bonds: A literature review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 767-808, September.

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