Hillary on Private Equity Firms or Katrina Vanden Huevel wrote a lazy blog

[rinsd]

Katrina Vanden Heuvel of the Nation recently wrote a blog in which she excrotiated Hillary Clinton for silence on private equity/hedge fund managers and the disparity in their tax rates.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3595577&mesg_id=3595577

"Yesterday I posted on the good and quick responses of Barack Obama and John Edwards to Harry Reid's bad decision not to take on the obscenely inequitable tax loophole that allows private equity mega-billionaires to be taxed at 15 percent--less than most working Americans.

But where's Hillary on this?

As of today, there is still nothing on her website. There is, however, a photo smack-dab in the middle of her homepage of her shiny blue bus: "Middle Class Express: Rebuilding the Road to the Middle Class."

Vanden Heuvel makes it seem like Hillary has no position on this.

However, I found this in 5 seconds with google.


7/13/2007
Hillary Clinton Proposes Ending Unfair Tax Breaks for Wall Street Investment Managers

Hillary Clinton today announced her support for cracking down on the tax loophole that allows some Wall Street investment managers to pay dramatically lower tax rates on their income than those paid by average working Americans. Current tax laws allow investment managers in certain partnerships to take large amounts of their compensation in the form of "carried interest," which is taxed at the low 15% capital gains rate, rather than at income tax rates as high as 35%. Many finance and tax experts, including billionaire financier Warren Buffett, have raised concerns that carried interest is essentially earned income. Therefore, it should be taxed as ordinary income, just like the earnings of average American workers.

Hillary's economic vision focuses on shared prosperity in the face of rising economic inequality in our country. A key element of her economic agenda is tax fairness that rewards work, not just wealth. Speaking at a rally in Keene, New Hampshire, on her Ready for Change, Ready to Lead tour, Clinton said that the preferential tax treatment of carried interest presents a "glaring inequity" that must be addressed to restore fairness to our nation's tax system.

"Our tax code should be valuing hard work and helping middle class and working families get ahead," Clinton said. "It offends our values as a nation when an investment manager making $50 million can pay a lower tax rate on her earned income than a teacher making $50,000 pays on her income. As President I will reform our tax code to ensure that the carried interest earned by some multi-millionaire Wall Street managers is recognized for what it is: ordinary income that should be taxed at ordinary income tax rates."

"Don't get me wrong," Clinton continued, "private equity and venture capital play important roles in our economy, and we should continue to support the entrepreneurial spirit that makes America great. We can close this loophole that unfairly benefits some of the best paid people in America, while continuing to encourage investment in innovative, young companies. This is common-sense, pro-fairness tax reform. And I would use the funds generated by the change-which some have estimated at $4-$6 billion per year-to invest in our middle class and working families. These funds can provide a down payment to help make college more affordable, provide tax relief for hard working Americans, and meet other key priorities to promote shared prosperity in America."


http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=2396

[goodgd_yall]

1. Kick n/t

[redqueen]

2. That looks pretty straightforward.

Did Katrina miss this, I wonder?

:wtf:

[rinsd]

4. Maybe she was looking for a statement on what Reid just said.

:shrug:

Still she framed it as if Hillary were silent on the issue.

[redqueen]

6. She sure as hell did... irresponsible at best...

:grr:

[Adelante]

3. email it to Vanden Huevel

The media should always be corrected.

[rinsd]

5. I posted it on the blog.

[Cameron27]

7. A deliberate distortion from Vanden Heuvel

:mad:

[wyldwolf]

8. you're too kind. She lied.

[rinsd]

10. I am willing to give Katrina a slight benefit of the doubt.

Even knowing the Nation's general hostility towards the Clinton campaign.

If this was Ariana Bermanington....well you know.

[wyldwolf]

11. not me. The Nation has played fast and loose with Hillary facts before

[Lucinda]

9. Well now...July was such a loooooong time ago.

You cant expect KVH to dig for info posted on a candidates website alllllll the way back to July now, can ya?

[zulchzulu]

12. July 14-NYT article shows Clinton backed higher taxes on hedge funds

Katrina needs to write a retraction....pronto.

July 14, 2007
Clinton Backs Higher Taxes for Investment Firm Managers
By STEPHEN LABATON; MICHAEL LUO CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM KEENE, N.H.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to support efforts to raise tax rates for private equity and hedge fund managers.

Two other leading Democratic candidates, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, have already called for an increase in the tax rate for partners of investment funds.

Mr. Edwards, who outlined his support for an increase this week, had been a paid adviser to a hedge fund and still has a substantial part of his wealth at that company.

But the issue has divided the Democratic Party's populists and pragmatists, particularly as the party has courted Wall Street for campaign contributions. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, for instance, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has not taken a position on the proposals. Nor has Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the top fund-raiser for the Democrats in the Senate.

The Bush administration has come out against changes to the tax rules, as have many Republicans in Congress. They have said that increasing the rates could reduce the entrepreneurial risk taken by the equity funds, damage the economy and make American investment firms less competitive abroad. Among Republican presidential contenders, Rudolph W. Giuliani has said he opposes increasing the rates.

At a rally in Keene, N.H., Mrs. Clinton said the current tax rules, which enable most of the investment income of partners at equity funds, known as carried interest, to be taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent, rather than the ordinary income rate of as much as 35 percent, presented a ''glaring inequity.''

''Our tax code should be valuing hard work and helping middle-class and working families get ahead,'' Mrs. Clinton said. ''It offends our values as a nation when an investment manager making $50 million can pay a lower tax rate on her earned income than a teacher making $50,000 pays on her income.

''As president I will reform our tax code to ensure that the carried interest earned by some multimillionaire Wall Street managers is recognized for what it is: ordinary income that should be taxed at ordinary income tax rates.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02EFDB1F3EF937A25754C0A9619C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/C/Clinton,%20Hillary%20Rodham