MuniLand

From the Tax Foundation on state income tax collections:

New York State, with its high marginal tax rates and wealthy tax base, collects the most – an average of $1,796 per resident. At the bottom of the list are seven states with no state income tax – Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

Good Links

New England Journal of Medicine: More healthcare jobs are not necessarily beneficial for society

Reuters: U.S. cities struggle with blighted bank-owned homes

Bloomberg: BofA’s Hallacy says almost 40 percent of 2012 issuance is for “new money” bonds

Bond Buyer: Big week for new bond issuance with $12 billion scheduled to come to market

NYT: South Carolina’s pension push into high-octane investments

Bloomberg: North Las Vegas crisis shows fragility of Nevada economy

Patriot News: Harrisburg’s former receiver, David Unkovic, writes about municipal corruption

California is trying to plug a $16 billion hole in its upcoming budget. Meanwhile the California Franchise Tax Board believes $10 billion is owed to the state every year, but never paid, as a result of this underground economy. (Video via KFSN)

Good Links

The Enterprise Blog: The national debt isn’t $15 trillion. It’s $50 trillion.

Reuters: State revenues still growing, albeit slowly.

Reuters: Municipal bond market shrank in 1st quarter: Fed.

Bonddesk: May 2012 market transparency report.

Reuters: “The penalty for staying in cash is so minimal that it may be the better option instead.”

The National Council of State Legislators reports:

In the past year, 27 states enacted more than 55 bills related to energy efficiency. Much of this legislation focused on addressing the up-front costs of energy efficiency upgrades through financing, similar to many of the renewable energy bills passed in the last year. Legislation also covered energy efficiency standards and goals, green building codes, energy efficiency improvements and promoting energy efficiency and savings.

Good Links

McClatchy: At the state level, unemployment’s a glass half-full or half-empty

Bloomberg: “Government by developer”

Thomson Reuters News & Insight: JPMorgan muni bid-rigging settlement wins court approval

State of Colorado: Live in Colorado and want to know if you have broadband access? Check this map

Although it’s unlikely that the federal budget will be balanced for years, some, like Larry Summers, argue that the nation should issue more debt to spur economic growth. The Congressional Budget Office details historical trends in revenue and outlays. The Hill says that a CBO report projects U.S. debt will double GDP by 2037.

Good Links

Pew States: Medicaid fraud busters learn from experience

Bloomberg: Pennsylvania likely to issue $4.5 billion in bonds to repay federal loans for jobless benefits

Pipeline: Pennsylvania governor seeks $1.7 billion tax-break deal for Shell Oil Co

California Controller John Chiang, the state’s chief fiscal officer, sits down for an interview with Bloomberg. This is an unedited video. California is the nation’s biggest state economically and has an unemployment rate of 10.9 percent, or 2.7 percent greater than the national average.

Good Links

Reuters: Corporate socialism: Taxpayers donate capital, while the owners keep the profits

McKnight’s: Federal nursing-home-to-community transition program falling woefully short

Michelle Obama appeared on ABC’s The View Tuesday morning to promote her new gardening book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. The Christian Science Monitor had a nice write-up.

Good Links

FT: Some investors back spending on growth

Reuters: U.S. municipal regulators propose underwriter disclosures

Fidelity.com: Five things muniland investors need to know now

Traders Magazine: Instinet adds Meredith Whitney Advisory Group as research provider

Reuters: Fitch cuts ratings on Detroit sewer bonds

WSJ: Judge leans against Chapter 11 for Northern Mariana pension

Saipan Tribune: Focus now on prolonging Northern Mariana pension fund’s lifespan

Richard Florida of the Atlantic Cities has done a wonderful job chronicling the rebirth of Detroit. Only time will tell if what he is documenting is just clusters of economic activity or whether it is broad-based enough to stabilize the city and its tax base. He is well worth a follow.

Good Links

Reuters: Edward Hadas: What to do about debt

Newsweek: Paul Begala: The right hates spending, unless it pockets the cash

CRR: The funding of state and local pensions: 2011-2015

Reuters: SEC redefines “sophisticated” in the municipal market

Bond Buyer: Excellent article about online retail municipal bond platforms and the MSRB

Learn Bonds: New municipal bond offerings spreadsheet

Bloomberg: California note sale may top $10 billion, Chiang says

Chicago Tribune: Chicago drivers endure more abuse from parking meter privatization

As summer unofficially opens, here’s a poem to biking from People for Bikes.

Good Links

CJR.org: Sorkin’s Glass-Steagall straw man

Bloomberg: Underwriters paying to pass bond issues face scrutiny

Bond Buyer: About $84 billion of coupon and maturing bonds coming in June and July

Reuters: Reuters newsroom joins my critical view of Puerto Rico debt

Reuters: Property taxes give New York’s Westchester County an edge over peers

Todd Park, the U.S.’s chief technology officer, calls for all “bad-ass” coders to serve a short stint in the federal government doing computer programming. Here is more from Techcrunch.

Happy Memorial Day!

Good Links

Reuters: State budgets spring new, smaller holes

Bond Buyer: When is a GO bond not a GO bond?

Marketplace Radio: How will California find a fair mix of spending cuts and tax increases? Radio interview with Governor Jerry Brown

WaPo: Vallejo, California, once bankrupt, is now a model for cities in an age of austerity

Have a look inside “North America’s greenest hotel” to see how it’s been done using existing technologies. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Portland is No. 1 for bike commuting in the U.S., according to the 2010 Census.

Good Links

Governing: Being governor is great

Commonwealth of Massachusetts: May 2012 credit update and investor disclosure conference call

Muni Nation: Yield on the run

Bond Buyer: Indiana eyes a privatization spree

NYDN: Rudy Giuliani rides in to rescue financing for Yankee Stadium parking company