'Get it done': Democrats want Trump to eliminate Wall Street tax break he's long targeted [View all]
Source: USA Today
May 19, 2025, 5:07 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON – A group of Democratic senators are calling on President Donald Trump to push congressional Republicans to end a Wall Street tax break he has long had in his sights.
In a letter sent to Trump on May 18 and first obtained by USA TODAY, ten Democratic senators highlighted the president's longstanding interest in eliminating what's known as the "carried interest loophole." It's a tax break that allows venture capital, private equity and hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate for certain earnings than they would if it was taxed as regular income.
Investment fund managers pay 23.8% tax on carried interest, which is the profits they make from assets like stocks and bonds. Even though it makes up most of their earnings, it's currently treated as a return on investment rather than typical income, which is taxed at 37% for the country's top earners. Trump campaigned on eliminating the tax break in 2016, telling CBS News that the financiers are "getting away with murder." "A lot of them, it's like they're paper pushers. They make a fortune, they pay no tax. It's ridiculous," he said at the time.
But Trump couldn't get the change included in his 2017 economic legislation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, amid an intense lobbying campaign from the industry and some GOP lawmakers to protect the break. Wall Street voices say the provision allows them to support more jobs and makes them more competitive around the world. Now that Republicans in Congress are crafting a new sweeping tax and spending package, Trump is again pushing congressional leaders to eliminate the carried interest advantage.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/19/democrats-trump-carried-interest/83710411007/
Link to LETTER (PDF) - https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/warren_colleagues_letter_to_trump_recarriedinterestloophole.pdf
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