Andrew Keen: I was talking to some folks in the private equity industry about taxes. He says they were paying 20% lower than everybody else, and he thought public would be outraged. A professor had written an academic paper on it that started to get passed around D.C., Keller writes. The fight over carried interest has been taking place practically ever since, she says.
Carried interest is a loophole in the United States tax code that has stood out for its egregious unfairness and stunning longevity.
Typically, the richest of the rich pay 40 percent tax on their income. The very narrow, select group that benefits from carried interest pays only 20 percent.
Earlier versions of the Inflation Reduction Act targeted carried interest. But the loophole has survived. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat of Arizona, demanded her party get rid of efforts to eliminate it in exchange for her support.
How has the carried interest loophole lasted so long despite its obvious unfairness?
Guest: Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist for The New York Times and the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook.
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