Arthur E. Anderson, II Partner

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Arthur employs his extensive bond and tax counsel experience to help clients structure, execute and defend innovative solutions to governmental and not-for-profit capital financing needs. He focuses both on taking advantage of the numerous incentives offered under federal tax and state law and addressing the restrictions and limitations the incentives always entail.

Arthur’s practice is focused on the areas of public finance and federal, state and local taxation. He has extensive experience as bond counsel with governmental bond issues, including general obligation, revenue and “subject to appropriation” financings for water and sewer projects, public schools and roads, commuter rail and other transportation facilities, and in tax-exempt financings for nonprofit organizations, including private elementary and secondary schools, and health care providers.

Arthur has served as lead bond counsel to some of our nation’s most innovative and successful “bond banks.” These issuers provide efficient and cost-effective solutions to local government borrowers that are often too small or too rarely in the public finance market to finance infrastructure improvements at rates their citizens can afford. Among many milestones he has helped these clients achieve was the first program in the country offering true pooled issues of direct-pay tax credit qualified school construction bonds.

Arthur has worked effectively with the firm’s litigation departments in defending the constitutionality of new credit structures in state court “validation” actions and other types of test cases. In several instances the structures were upheld in the face of determined and politically-motivated opposition.

The Internal Revenue Service has over the past fifteen years greatly increased its enforcement efforts in the tax-advantaged financing arena. Arthur has worked with his public finance colleagues to develop an efficient and effective approach to handling federal tax enforcement audits of tax-advantaged bonds.

Arthur has served in a number of leadership roles both at McGuireWoods and in the professional organizations to which he belongs. He currently serves on the firm’s opinion committee and recently headed the effort by the tax-exempt financing subcommittee of the tax committee of the American Bar Association to provide comments on, and alternatives to, the IRS’ proposed “issue price” regulations.

Experience

  • Representation of a state-level bond bank in the development of a senior-subordinate financing structure for the issuance of over $2.5 billion in bonds to fund loans to local governments for a wide array of infrastructure projects.
  • Representation of a state department of transportation in drafting the authorizing legislation and serving as bond counsel for the issuance of more than $600 million of federal transportation grant anticipation notes, also known as “GARVEEs,” to finance critically-needed highway improvements.
  • Representation of a state department of transportation in drafting the authorizing legislation for and in organizing a state transportation infrastructure bank that has made a number of “gap-closing” loans to enable the completion of several toll road and traffic congestion relief projects.
  • Representation of several Virginia cities and counties in the structuring and issuance of the first school tax credit bond financings in the state.
  • Representation of a state-level bond bank in the development of a pooled school tax credit bond program under which more than $300 million in school tax credit bonds has been issued to fund loans to finance K-12 building construction and renovation.
  • Representation of state and local government entities in obtaining private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service on tax questions pertaining to various types of tax-advantaged bonds.
  • Defense of numerous state and local government entities in audits of tax-exempt bond issues by the Internal Revenue Service.