John Hutchinson

Practice Areas

Johnny Hutchinson focuses his practice on tax issues arising in state and local debt transactions. He also represents the issuers and private borrowers of municipal debt before the IRS on a range of tax-related issues regarding these transactions, including IRS examinations and closing agreements and helps financial advisors and investment bankers structure deals and present them to potential transaction participants in a way that helps them achieve their client’s goals while staying within the bounds of the tax rules.

I focus my practice on tax-advantaged state and local debt of all types, including governmental financings, financings for 501(c)(3) organizations, and other private activity bond financings for airports and other transportation facilities, as well as solid waste disposal facility and sewage facility financings for large utilities and industrial operations.

I have worked on large governmental financings for some of the largest issuers and projects in the country. For example, we currently provide comprehensive tax advice to the Long Island Power Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York, and we recently did the tax work on the financing for the new Tennessee Titans football stadium in Nashville, which received Proximo North America’s Leisure Deal of the Year 2023..

I am recognized as a “go-to” lawyer in the area of tax-advantaged airport bond financings. For example, I served as bond counsel to Empire State Development (ESD) (through the New York Transportation Development Corporation (an ESD-related entity)) in the approximately $2.4 billion P3 bond financing for the redevelopment of Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, which was awarded the Bond Buyer’s Regional Deal of the Year award in 2016. I also served as lead tax counsel on the two subsequent bond issuances to transform the other two main passenger terminals at LaGuardia, totaling over $3 billion. Likewise, I have been heavily involved in the comparable efforts to redevelop John F. Kennedy International Airport, serving as lead tax counsel on billions of dollars of new money and refunding bonds. I also provided lead tax advice to the Pittsburgh International Airport on their Terminal Modernization Program, involving multiple financings totaling over $1 billion. I served as lead tax lawyer to the airport bond issuers responsible for San Francisco International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

I have significant experience in other transportation financings. For example, I served as first-chair tax lawyer for the over $1 billion taxable and tax-exempt (under Section 142(m) of the Internal Revenue Code) bond financing for the northern extension of the I-495 Express Lanes in the Washington D.C. metro area, which is owned and operated by Transurban Group, an international operator of toll road facilities. The deal was named “North American PPP Deal of the Year” for 2022 by Proximo Infra news and data service.

In addition to helping clients structure and close deals, I help clients who have already issued their bonds with “post-issuance” tax concerns. I frequently defend issuers and borrowers of tax-advantaged debt from Internal Revenue Service audits, and I have significant experience with the IRS Voluntary Closing Agreement Program and other post-issuance resolution tools.

Finally, I help investment bankers as they structure and present tax-exempt transactions to potential issuer and borrower clients to ensure that the proposed transaction fits within federal guidelines.

As prevailing interest rates have climbed, clients need creative and knowledgeable counsel to help control borrowing costs while complying with the federal tax rules. In addition, as state and local governments continue to examine ways to provide infrastructure and services to their constituents more efficiently, they may increasingly turn to public-private partnerships. These arrangements create challenges for federally tax-advantaged financings, requiring sophisticated experience.

Career

Case Western Reserve University, J.D., magna cum laude

Florida State University, B.A. and B.S., summa cum laude

Professional Memberships

Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Bond Lawyers

American Bar Association