Carried interest, which is essentially the profits reaped by hedge fund managers and private equity executives, is currently taxed at a long-term capital gains rate
that is about half the roughly 40 percent ordinary income rate for the highest earners.
That reading is based on the proposal subjecting pass-through entities — which include partnerships like private equity firms
and hedge funds — to a 15 percent tax rate, which is lower than the rate on capital gains and much lower than the top rate on ordinary income.
If that turned out to be the case, private equity and hedge fund managers will have dodged a bullet, having long feared
that Mr. Trump might make good on his populist rhetoric and seek to have carried interest taxed as ordinary income — rather than as capital gains.
Trump Tax Plan Silent on Carried Interest, a Boon for the Very Rich -
By MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN and BEN PROTESSAPRIL 27, 2017
When the Trump administration unveiled its outline of a tax plan on Wednesday, officials trumpeted a bold promise
to shave the corporate tax rate to a flat 15 percent and sharply reduce taxes for ordinary Americans.
Before he was selected for his role, Mr. Ross, an early supporter of Mr. Trump’s, said
that a Trump tax plan would crack down on the carried interest loophole.
Mr. Trump’s close ties to hedge fund managers and private equity executives make it easy for his critics to assume
that the plan would provide a tax benefit to the ultrawealthy.