Analyze municipal bonds including general obligation and revenue bonds, tax-equivalent yield calculations, AMT considerations, and muni-specific credit analysis. This skill is essential for tax-aware fixed income investing and evaluating the relative value of tax-exempt versus taxable bonds.

2 — Asset Classes

both

Backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the issuing municipality. The issuer pledges to use any available revenue source (property tax, income tax, sales tax) to repay bondholders. GO bonds typically require voter approval and are considered safer due to the broad taxing pledge.

Backed solely by the revenue generated from a specific project or source — toll roads (toll collections), water/sewer systems (utility fees), hospitals (patient revenue), airports (landing fees, terminal rents). Revenue bonds typically carry higher yields than GO bonds of comparable maturity and credit quality because of the narrower revenue pledge.

The core calculation for comparing municipal bonds to taxable alternatives:

Federal only: TEY = Muni Yield / (1 - federal_marginal_rate)

Federal + state (for in-state munis): TEY = Muni Yield / (1 - federal_rate - state_rate × (1 - federal_rate))

This converts a tax-exempt yield to the pre-tax yield a taxable bond would need to offer to match the muni's after-tax income.

Certain private activity bonds generate interest that is subject to AMT. For taxpayers subject to AMT, the tax advantage of these bonds is reduced. AMT-subject bonds typically trade at slightly higher yields to compensate. Non-AMT munis (governmental purpose bonds) are not affected.

GO bonds: evaluate tax base diversity and trends, debt burden ratios (debt per capita, debt/assessed value), fund balance as % of expenditures, economic base (population, employment), pension/OPEB obligations.

Revenue bonds: evaluate debt service coverage ratio (DSCR = net revenue / annual debt service), rate covenants, additional bonds tests, demand analysis, and reserve fund adequacy.

Discount bonds purchased below a threshold (typically par minus 0.25% per year to maturity) may lose tax-exempt status on the discount portion — the gain is taxed as ordinary income rather than being tax-exempt. This affects the after-tax return calculation for discount munis.

Muni yield / Treasury yield. Historically this ratio averages approximately 80% for AAA munis. Ratios above 80-85% suggest munis are cheap relative to Treasuries; below 70% suggests they are rich. The ratio varies with supply/demand, tax policy expectations, and credit conditions.

Taxable municipal bonds created under the 2009 stimulus. The federal government subsidizes 35% of interest cost. Expired for new issuance after 2010 but outstanding BABs continue to trade. They allowed issuers to access the broader taxable bond market.

When an issuer advance-refunds a callable bond, it places US Treasuries in escrow sufficient to pay remaining coupons and the call price. These defeased bonds are effectively AAA-quality and trade at very tight spreads.

Given: Muni yield = 3.5%, federal marginal rate = 37%, state marginal rate = 5% Calculate: Tax-equivalent yield for an in-state bond Solution: TEY = 3.5% / (1 - 0.37 - 0.05 × (1 - 0.37)) TEY = 3.5% / (1 - 0.37 - 0.05 × 0.63) TEY = 3.5% / (1 - 0.37 - 0.0315) TEY = 3.5% / 0.5985 TEY = 5.85%

A taxable bond would need to yield 5.85% to match the after-tax income of this 3.5% muni for this taxpayer. The state tax benefit adds approximately 29bp of value compared to the federal-only TEY of 5.56%.

Given: Same issuer, same maturity (10 years). GO bond yields 3.2%, revenue bond (water/sewer) yields 3.6%. DSCR on revenue bond = 1.8x. Calculate: Which bond offers better value? Solution: The revenue bond yields 40bp more than the GO bond. The DSCR of 1.8x is well above the typical 1.25x minimum for investment grade, indicating strong coverage. Water/sewer is an essential service with stable demand. The 40bp additional yield compensates for the narrower revenue pledge, but the strong coverage ratio suggests the credit risk is modest. For investors comfortable with revenue bond structures, the 40bp pickup may represent good relative value.

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