MMSD vs TAXS

MMSDCNYLI MacKay Muni Short Duration ETF

TAXSANorthern Trust Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond ETF

In short

MMSD New York Life's muni desk in ETF form, aimed at the short end of the tax-exempt bond market. It undercuts the typical muni ETF on fee, but it opened in 2025 and is still building its record.

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

MMSD The Fund seeks current income that is exempt from regular federal income tax.

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

• MMSD Costs 0.25% a year against a 0.30% median for muni bond ETFs. On tax-free income, the fee you skip is income you keep.
• The mandate targets current income exempt from regular federal income tax, and the fund distributes monthly.
• Short duration by design. Shorter bonds move less when rates jump, which is the whole point of the sleeve.
• Holds roughly 150 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

• MMSD Thinly traded. Spreads can be wider than the muni heavyweights, so limit orders earn their keep here.
• Launched in 2025 with a modest asset base, so there is little history to judge it by.
• Broad index rivals VTEB and MUB charge 0.03% and 0.05%. This is a pricier, narrower slice of the muni market, and it sits in the lower half of its peer group.

• 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 MMSD profile⁠

Full TAXS profile⁠