The tax treatment for the private equity executive doesn't change the returns that a pension fund or somebody who invests with a private equity firm is going to be receiving. In other words, private equity firms are not going to suddenly have less incentive to turn a profit just because they get taxed on their salary like everybody else. And we're talking about such large quantities of money that private equity managers are still going to be paid extremely well. They would be taxed more on those huge payments, but their pay is still stratospherically high compared with everybody else. So carried interest survives and actually survives a very long time before it becomes a political issue all over again by becoming a political issue from the most
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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