Wall St Journal article on carried interest
by Victor
A number of academics and pay consultants say that carried interest should be taxed as ordinary income. They contend that fund managers receive carried interest as compensation for a service performed—managing other people’s money—making the carried interest nothing more than labor wages.
University of Colorado tax law professor Victor Fleischer, whose views caught the attention of Congress two years ago, agrees with this approach. He notes that profits earned by managers from their own money invested in their funds—typically a small percentage of the total fund size—are appropriately taxed at capital-gains rates. But he said the portion of pay managers get for investing other people’s money should be taxed at ordinary income rates, just like other forms of salary.
“It’s amazing to me that at the same time the U.K. is imposing a 50% excise tax on bankers’ bonuses, the private-equity guys aren’t even willing to pay the usual ordinary income rate,” Mr. Fleischer said. “You would think they would recognize a fair deal when it’s offered.”