Town Hall- Although Hillary Clinton claims to adamantly support tax \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cfairness,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d she can’t make up her mind about whether Wall Street barons should have to pay the same tax rate as the regu larworkers she loves and the corporations she loathes.<\/p>\n
Right now, when private equity and hedge funds go public, the funds and their managers only have to pay a 15 percent tax on their millions in profits. That’s a lot less than the top rates of 35 percent for corporations and 33 percent for individuals. Doesn’t sound fair, does it?<\/p>\n
But Hillary, whose Web site espouses justice and fairness by \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cleveling the playing field and reducing special breaks for big corporations\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d and \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201censuring that corporations pay their fair share of taxes\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d hasn’t come out in support of legislation co-sponsored by Barack Obama and backed by John Edwards to increase the tax rate on hedge funds and private equity firms to 35 percent. She’s still thinking about it.<\/p>\n
And we’re not talking about peanuts here. The dollars involved in these transactions give new meaning to the term \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cbig bucks.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Take a look at the public offering on on e such firm, Blackstone. Its IPO later this month is expected to net $4.75 billion! And two of the partners alone will have made almost $10 billion in the transaction. According to Business Week, top partners Stephen Schwartzman and Pete Peterson will personally make billions: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cSchwarzman, 60, will own 24 percent of Blackstone after the IPO, a stake that would be worth about $7.73 billion. Peterson, 80, will get at least $1.88 billion when he sells all but 4 percent of his interest in the firm.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n