Municipal Securities are debt securities issued by a State, Municipality or a County in order to finance its capital expenditures. These securities are exempted from Federal taxes, State taxes and Local taxes. State taxes and Local taxes are exempted where the investor resides in the state in which such security is issued. However, capital gains on these securities are still taxable. Unlike treasury securities, municipal securities have credit risk associated with them.
Basically, Municipal Securities are of two types:
- Tax-Backed debt obligations, and
- Revenue bonds.