Monday, July 09, 2007
Edwards Fully Un-Hedged
Seems like John Edwards is really finding his legs (and maybe even legislation) on the hedge fund tax issue I wrote about in my Politico column last week.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Edwards is now prepared not only to close the loophole that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to have their income taxed at the much lower capital gains rate of 15 percent, but to take on two other related tax inequities that have been getting increasing attention on Capitol Hill.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Edwards is now prepared not only to close the loophole that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to have their income taxed at the much lower capital gains rate of 15 percent, but to take on two other related tax inequities that have been getting increasing attention on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Edwards, campaigning in New Hampshire, said in an interview that he supports the so-called Blackstone bill levying corporate taxes on publicly traded private-equity partnerships, a move to tax hedge-fund managers' "carried interest" at ordinary income rather than the lower capital-gains rates, and eliminating the ability of those managers to defer taxation by shifting income into offshore entities. Taken together, the former North Carolina senator asserted, these steps would raise $4 billion to $6 billion a year.Over to you, Senators Clinton and Obama. . .
"We want to see significant economic growth, and we want capital to be used efficiently," Mr. Edwards said. "But we want to have a system that's fair" to average workers as well as investors."
