AUSM vs TAXS

AUSMBAllspring Ultra Short Municipal ETF

TAXSANorthern Trust Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF

In short

AUSM An actively run muni cash sleeve in ETF clothing: Allspring aims to keep average effective maturity at one year or less, hunting federally tax-exempt income at the sleepy end of the curve. Fee is 0.19%, with no waiver involved.

TAXS Northern Trust's muni index fund keeps every bond under five years to maturity and charges 0.05%, a fraction of the typical muni ETF fee. Roughly 1,700 federally tax-exempt bonds, none of them AMT bonds, with interest paid monthly.

Stated mandate

AUSM The Fund seeks current income exempt from federal income tax while preserving capital. It invests principally in short-term municipal securities and generally expects a dollar-weighted average effective maturity of one year or less.

TAXS The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE Short-term Focused Municipal Bond Index. It is designed for tax-exempt income through passively managed, investment-grade municipal bonds with short-term maturities.

Why people hold it

• AUSM Targets a dollar-weighted average effective maturity of one year or less, parking the portfolio at the money-market end of the muni curve, and pays income monthly.sec.gov
• Active, not index-shadowing: the desk works security selection, sector rotation, duration and yield-curve positioning, and may use futures to manage duration.allspringglobal.comsec.gov
• At 0.19% with no waiver involved, the fee lands in line with the typical short-muni fund even though a human team is picking the bonds.
• At least 80% of net assets stay in munis whose interest is exempt from federal income tax, a policy only shareholders can vote to change.sec.gov

• TAXS 0.05% a year sits at the low end of the muni aisle, where the typical fund charges several times that, and matches the fee on MUB, the category's iShares heavyweight.
• Index rules admit only investment-grade bonds with under five years left to final maturity, so the portfolio skips the long-end price swings that define all-maturity muni funds.flexshares.com
• About 1,700 bonds, all exempt from federal tax and screened to exclude alternative minimum tax paper, with income distributed monthly rather than accrued.flexshares.com
• Passive, sampled, and run by Northern Trust's municipal desk, which has managed muni portfolios for more than 30 years. The index does the picking, not a manager's hunch.flexshares.comnortherntrust.com

Worth knowing

• AUSM Launched in 2025 and thinly traded, so the track record is thin too and spreads can widen when size shows up.
• Index-tracking neighbors cost less: VTES at 0.05% and SUB at 0.07% run short tax-exempt portfolios for a sliver of the price.
• Up to 20% of assets can pay AMT-subject interest and up to 10% can sit below investment grade, so tax-exempt is not absolute and credit risk is not zero.sec.gov

• TAXS It launched in 2025 and trades lightly next to muni mainstays like VTEB and MUB, so spreads can run wider and the track record is short.
• Federally tax-exempt is not tax-free. That interest can still be taxed by your state and city.flexshares.com
• Sub-five-year munis generally carry lower yields than longer maturity portfolios. That is the other side of the milder rate sensitivity.flexshares.com

Full AUSM profile⁠

Full TAXS profile⁠