BKMS vs TAXS

BKMSCBNY Mellon Municipal Short Duration ETF

TAXSANorthern Trust Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF

In short

BKMS A short-duration municipal bond portfolio with a track record that starts in 2000, now in an ETF wrapper. The idea: federally tax-exempt income from a couple hundred bonds, with maturities kept close in rather than stretched out.

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

BKMS The fund seeks to maximize current income exempt from federal income tax while preserving capital. It normally invests at least 80% of assets, plus investment borrowings, in tax-exempt municipal bonds.

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

• BKMS The mandate is written down: at least 80% of assets in tax-exempt municipal bonds, aiming to maximize income exempt from federal income tax while preserving capital.
• Short duration is the design choice. Keeping maturities close in mechanically dampens how much the portfolio's price moves when rates do, compared with long-dated muni funds.
• The strategy dates to 2000, so it has run through multiple rate cycles rather than one.
• Spread across roughly a couple hundred municipal bonds, so no single issuer carries the portfolio.

• 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

• BKMS At 0.35%, the fee sits above the muni cohort median. Index heavyweights set a low bar here: VTEB at 0.03% and MUB at 0.05%.
• Thinly traded next to the big muni ETFs, so the spread you cross on the way in and out can matter as much as the headline fee.
• Distributions arrive on an irregular schedule rather than a fixed monthly one, which is worth knowing if you plan around income timing.

• 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 BKMS profile⁠

Full TAXS profile⁠