Patriotic Millionaires slams Mnuchin/Trump for selling out the country on carried interest tax loophole

At a press event this week in Louisville, Kentucky, alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated the Trump administration will not close the carried interest loophole for most Wall Street billionaires, including the vast majority of private equity and real estate fund managers.

In those comments, Mnuchin parroted a widely-disputed claim of private equity industry lobbyists, saying the loophole will remain open open for those funds who “create jobs.” 

Mnuchin’s third wife, Louise Linton, has come under fire for comments made after the same Kentucky event.

In response to Mnuchin’s comments Morris Pearl, the chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former Blackrock executive, issued the following statement:  

Secretary Mnuchin’s friends in private equity are rejoicing today, as the U.S. Treasury is now parroting industry talking points about their alleged benefit to U.S. workers.

Hundreds of thousands of pink slips tell the real story.

Furthermore, there is no intellectually justifiable reason why fund managers — who do not actually invest their own capital — should pay half the tax rate of Americans who actually work for a living.

Mnuchin’s statement either proves a profound lack of understanding of the difference between being an investor and being an investment manager (doubtful) or a calculated political ploy designed to appease both Trump’s base and Wall Street billionaires like David Rubenstein.

It is past time for this country to have a public debate on the carried interest loophole.

If you want to know who will stand up for working Americans and who won’t, look no farther than the politician's position on the carried interest loophole.

It will tell you everything you need to know.