

Why taxing carried interest may not generate revenues governments hope - cwan
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6161SX20100207

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patio11
One of the perpetual problems of huge tax increases on "rich people", for any
definition of "rich" (and hedge fund managers certainly qualify due to one of
the most comprehensively borked incentive structures on the face of the earth
-- "2 and 20"), is that when you start taxing people billions of dollars for
having non-crafty accountants they find the money in their sofa to hire _very_
crafty accountants. Opportunities for tax avoidance increase substantially as
your business gets more complicated and your resources for researching the tax
law get bigger. And when you're talking about billions, you can profitably
employ more lax lawyers than the IRS has looking for all the things the five
beleaguered aides on Capitol Hill missed when drafting the legislation.

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jbooth
Why hire the accountant? Hire a lobbyist, and you squash the problem before it
gets off the ground.

That's proactive thinking.

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jbooth
FTA: "Carried interest is typically the 20 percent that private equity
executives take from the profit made on their funds"

Isn't that, you know, income? I pay taxes on my income. How about you?

