Rosendale Introduces ‘No Tax Breaks For Sanctuary Cities Act’

On Monday, Feb. 8, U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., introduced his first piece of legislation to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The “‘No Tax Breaks for Sanctuary Cities Act” will amend the tax code to eliminate the tax exempt status of municipal bonds issued by sanctuary jurisdictions.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions are a huge problem in this country; not only do they subvert the rule of law, but they also put our communities at risk,” Rosendale said. “My hope is that the bill will be another tool in the toolkit to deter these dangerous policies nationwide by creating a financial disincentive for sanctuary cities. Immigration is a national issue that affects all of us, and individual municipalities cannot be allowed to continue to make up their own policies in an area constitutionally reserved for Congress.”

Rosendale’s first bill was cosponsored by 18 of his House peers. It has currently been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for consideration.

There are approximately 180 cities and counties that are sanctuary jurisdictions. There are 11 states that are entirely sanctuary jurisdictions. There were $339 billion in tax-exempt bond issuances in fiscal year 2020. There was just over $3 trillion in active state and local bonds that have not reached maturity as of the end of fiscal year 2020.