Congress Urged to Use Muni Tax Breaks to Help Black Colleges

  • House panel Wednesday focused on muni market’s social impact
  • Idea, proposed before, backed by Wall Street trade groups
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
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Here’s one way the federal government could help America’s black colleges and universities: expand the market for their tax-exempt bonds.

Christopher Parsons, a University of Southern California finance professor who found that such schools face higher costs in the bond market than others, told a panel of the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday that making their debt exempt from all state and local income taxes nationwide would help reduce their financing bills.