Saturday, May 24, 2025

Carried Interest Saved, Millionaire Tax Avoided!


Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founder David Rubenstein gave CNBC's morning anchors his usual refrain on carried interest, private equity underwriters (PEU) preferred taxation.  It's just "not much money." 

Flashback fourteen years ago:


"Not much revenue", "Not serious money."  Really, Mr. Rubenstein?


Rubenstein has been a "policy making billionaire" with carte blanche to powerful D.C .politicians.  

One of the anchors asked "Was it You?" regarding carried interest's removal not being in the bill (even though Trump asked for it).  Rubenstein assured the interviewers that it was another group with political punch.  

Trump's suggested millionaire tax (at levels considered Communist under Obama) also failed to make the President's big, contra-Jesus bill.

The top 0.1% have $22 trillion in wealth, the bottom 50% have $4 trillion and the middle class have $12.7 trillion (8% of the total wealth).  The top 10% have $58.3 trillion in wealth and that's clearly where the money is.  It's a shame they don't see value in funding government operations to a level that reduces the deficit.

Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz made 813 times the average paid Carlyle employee in 2023, according to S&P Global.


The greed and leverage boys know better than to take their outsized rewards in taxable pay.  The system has been designed over decades by and for the financially wealthy and politically powerful.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  TechGods and DOUGEBAG (Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased against Government) copied the PEU playbook, executing it more openly and brashly.  The public didn't like it as it brought back bad memories of past PEU takeovers of their workplace.  

How will the public react to the Red Team's leaving PEU preferred carried interest taxation in place and not instituting a millionaire's tax?  There is serious money with the top 10% and Trump II and his compliant Congress are not only leaving it on the table, they are giving that group bigger tax breaks.


It's Trump's Big, PEU-tiful Bill!  

Update 5-28-25:  WaPo did a story on the Red Team's dropping the millionaire tax.