LTAX vs MUB

LTAXCNomura Tax-Free USA ETF

MUBAiShares National Muni Bond ETF

In short

LTAX Nomura's first swing at US municipal bonds: a 2026 launch chasing federally tax-free income with preservation of capital written into the mandate. New and small, at 0.39% in a category where the index giants charge pennies.

MUB Municipal bonds, indexed and cheap. Since 2007, MUB has packaged investment-grade national munis into tax-exempt monthly income for five basis points a year, and it sits among the deepest pools in the muni-ETF aisle.

Stated mandate

LTAX The Fund seeks a high level of current interest income exempt from federal income tax, subject to what municipal obligations can provide, prudent investment management, and preservation of capital.

MUB The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade U.S. municipal bonds, providing diversified exposure to the national municipal-bond market and tax-exempt income.

Why people hold it

• LTAX The mandate is specific: current income exempt from federal income tax, paid as exempt-interest dividends, with preservation of capital named in the objective itself.
• A 2026 launch means a clean sheet: the portfolio gets built out of today's muni market rather than inheriting bonds bought in an older rate regime.
• Nomura is a global asset manager planting a flag in US munis, a corner of the market long dominated by a handful of domestic index shops.

• MUB 0.05% a year against a muni-ETF median near 0.30%. In a category built on modest, tax-exempt yields, that fee gap is real money left in the fund.
• The benchmark is AMT-free: the ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index screens out munis whose interest can be pulled into the alternative minimum tax.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, one of the tighter jobs in its peer group, and distributes monthly. A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Broad investment-grade exposure across the national muni market, spread over thousands of issuers rather than one state's budget.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• LTAX At 0.39% a year it costs more than the category's index anchors (VTEB at 0.03%, MUB at 0.05%). That gap is the bar its portfolio choices have to clear.
• It launched in 2026 and hasn't built the scale or daily trading of the muni giants, which can show up as wider spreads at the moment you trade.
• The filing doesn't commit to a set payout schedule, so income timing is less predictable here than at muni funds that state a monthly cadence.

• MUB Two rivals undercut it: VTEB and SCMB both run 0.03%. A two-basis-point gap is small, but it is a gap.
• A bond fund with no maturity date to hold to. Share prices move with interest rates and muni credit conditions, both directions.
• National by design, so no single-state tilt and no in-state tax angle. iShares runs state-specific muni funds such as NYF for that job.

Full LTAX profile⁠

Full MUB profile⁠