In an amazing comparison, Joe Biden said that the Obama’s attempts to tax carryover interest is similar to liberating the Nazi death camps.
Carried interest refers to “a rule in the tax code that lets the managers of some types of private investment funds—hedge, private equity, venture capital, real estate and other types of vehicles—pay a lower rate than most individuals.”
During an extended interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, Biden said there was “no justification” for a hedge fund to pay 15-to-17 percent rates on carried interest.
President Obama has sought to tax that income earned by fund managers as ordinary income rather than under capital gains rates.
“You guys have tried consistently through the administration to tax what they call carried interest as ordinary income,” Harwood said. “When you started doing that, a big Wall Street guy, Steve Schwarzman, said the Obama administration’s like Hitler invading Poland. How do you react to criticism like that? And I would note, you guys haven’t been able to get it done.”
“I’d say it’s like us liberating death camps,” Biden said. “The truth of the matter is, there’s no justification for a hedge fund paying at 15-to-17 percent. There’s just no justification.”
“Why haven’t you been able to get it done?” Harwood asked.