Leveraged buyout and venture capital firms are steaming over a new carve-out provision for family farms inserted at the last minute into the carried interest tax hike that passed the House at the end of last month.
The provision appears to exempt farmers who have organized their business as investment partnerships from paying ordinary income tax on the money they take from the partnership. The new bill, of course, will treat most carried interest as income for tax purposes instead of capital gains. Private equity and VC firms say the exemption is unfair and Congress is merely cherry picking certain industries to raise taxes on.
“It’s a carve-out in the bill, there’s no question about it,” said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, an Arlington, Virginia-based trade group that is lobbying the Senate for its own exemption. “It shows that they are not being upfront.”
“This would indicate that the issue is not so much about tax policy but to indicate which industries are currently in favor and which are seen to be in disfavor,” Peter Rose, a spokesman for New York-based Blackstone, said of the exemption for farmers.
As the Senate takes up debate on the legislation this week, lobbyists for the private equity industry plan to make an issue of the family farm exemption and VC firms may move to get an exemption of their own.
Blackstone, Venture Firms Protest Tax Break for Family Farmers [Bloomberg]
Earlier: Private Equity Fuming Over Carried Interest Tax Hike
Farming is the new clean tech.
Exemption clearly set up to favor the Falcone’s pastoral spread on East 67th. And you thought the pig was there to play showtunes at cocktail parties?!
Farmland outside Dallas is currently being picked up by TPG as a hedge against this.
Kouwe, you know today was Monday, right? And that markets were open? You suck so bad.
This reads like an actual news story. There is nothing remotely funny about this. WTF?
The exemption is fair since nothing is more passive than watching the grass grow. But to the matter at hand, BX putting 20x leverage on a bunch of hotels is really like putting fertilizer in the ground, so I expect PE to find someway to qualify for this exemption.
yeah fuck family farmers.. who needs food?
Family farming is inefficient and wasteful, their labor has more value to society if they at least work on a mechanized, efficient, corporate farm. Interesting how irrational romantic notions of society lead to policies that end up lowering the standard of living for society.
PE guys listen up, obviously your “envelope” to Pelosi was too thin, bulk it up next time….cheap sob’s