do you pay taxes on treasury yields 
yes generally you will pay federal taxes on the interest payments you receive on the treasuries you hold you will not pay state taxes muni bonds are exempt from federal taxes and in some cases state taxes the bottom linethe yield of a treasury security is the inverse of its price and treasuries are priced quoted and traded using the yield to denote the price because of their relatively low risk when held to maturity treasuries offer a lower rate of return in comparison with most other investments rates on other fixed income investments are sometimes quoted as spreads over the treasury yield for the same maturity with the spread compensating investors for the increased credit risk of lending to an entity other than the u s government longer term treasury securities normally have higher yields than short term ones to compensate investors for the additional duration risk duration risk is the possibility that higher interest rates will lower the bond s market value short term rates in excess of longer term ones are a sign of an inverted yield curve and can signal an economic slowdown 