Carried Interest Taxation

In 2007 the House of Representatives passed legislation that would treat carried interest as ordinary income instead of a long-term gain. The move threatened to increase the tax rate from 15 percent to 35 percent on the income of partners in private equity firms, venture capital firms, and some real estate and oil and gas partnerships. This case follows the arguments and actions made by both proponents and opponents of the potential tax increase, setting up an evaluation of the strategy used by the private equity industry to combat the threatened increase.