End of the line near for transit fund ploy; Feds may end lease/leaseback benefit.(News)

Byline: GREG HINZ

After years of warnings from congressional legislators, local governments are likely to lose a tax loophole they've used to raise tens of millions of dollars.

Bills nearing passage in both the U.S. House and Senate would end a practice in which the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra and other agencies here team up with private investors to split federal depreciation tax credits on assets like rapid-transit train lines.

The transactions work this way: An agency like the CTA leases or sells an asset to a syndicate of investors