Congress: close the hedge fund loophole
One of the most egregious tax loopholes is the "hedge fund loophole."
These wealthy money managers, some of whom earn more than $1 billion per year, pay just a fraction of the tax rate paid by working people.
They get away with this because they convinced an earlier Congress to call their compensation for managing money, known as "carried interest," to be investment income rather than the equivalent of a salary or wages. And they even avoid Social Security taxes on their huge incomes.
Now, Congress is moving towards fixing this by closing the "hedge fund loophole" as part of the financial reform package that has passed the House and the Senate already.
With such enormous incomes, these hedge fund titans have a lot of clout in Congress and have managed to stave off closing the loophole many times before. They will not let this loophole close without a fight and the vote will be very close. It is time for super wealthy hedge fund managers to pay as much as the rest of us.