Financial Repression Tracker

Rules that steer savings into government debt or hold returns below inflation, country by country.

Steer · Tax incentives

Tax exemptions for interest on public debt

What it is
Exclude interest on central, state or municipal debt from income taxes or investment-income surtaxes. Exemptions can be restricted to retail issues or a particular level of government.
Why it counts
A higher after-tax return steers portfolios toward public debt and lets public issuers borrow at lower pretax yields.

When it was in force

  • United States: 1954 → now, in force; the rule may be older than the cited document
  • Hungary: 2019 → now, in force

2 examples

  1. United States

    1954 → nowIn force

    The rule may be older than the cited document · As cited: 1954-present; earlier predecessors

    Qualifying state and local bond interest is excluded from federal gross income, subject to statutory exceptions.

    Internal Revenue Code, 26 USC 103Primary source
    “Except as provided in subsection (b), gross income does not include interest on any State or local bond.”

    govinfo.gov (opens in a new tab)Checked: quote matched on the page by script

    United States today: index 42.9

  2. Hungary

    2019 → nowIn force

    As cited: 2019-present; social-contribution exemption also relevant from 2023

    Qualifying retail government securities issued after the June 2019 cutoff escape interest tax and the additional social-contribution levy.

    Act CXVII of 1995 on personal income tax; Act LII of 2018 on social contribution tax, as amendedPrimary source
    “A 2019. június 1. napját követően forgalomba hozott állampapírok esetében szociális hozzájárulási adófizetési kötelezettség nem áll fenn.”

    allamkincstar.gov.hu (opens in a new tab)Checked: quote matched on the page by script

    Hungary today: index 32.3

Examples and their dates reviewed .