MEAR vs TAXS

MEARBiShares Short Maturity Municipal Bond Active ETF

TAXSANorthern Trust Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF

In short

MEAR Active muni investing at the short end. Since 2015, iShares has hand-picked roughly 300 short-term municipal bonds here, chasing income exempt from federal tax and the AMT in a corner of the market most rivals index.

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

MEAR The Fund seeks to maximize tax-free current income through active management of short-term municipal securities. It generally invests at least 80% of assets in municipal securities whose interest is exempt from U.S. federal income tax and the federal AMT.

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

• MEAR Costs 0.26% a year, below the typical muni ETF, and that buys a manager picking bonds rather than a rulebook.
• At least 80% of assets sit in bonds whose interest is exempt from federal income tax and the federal AMT, spread across about 300 positions.ishares.com
• Short maturities mean milder price swings when rates move than long-dated muni portfolios face.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands steadily, which tends to keep bid-ask costs contained.

• 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

• MEAR Index muni funds go far cheaper: VTEB at 0.03% and MUB at 0.05%. Active security selection is the thing you are paying the difference for.
• No index to check the work against. Outcomes ride on the manager's credit and maturity calls.
• Payouts land on an irregular schedule, and the tax break is federal. State and local taxes can still apply.

• 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 MEAR profile⁠

Full TAXS profile⁠