A group of House Democrats led by Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ), chairman of the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, introduced the Carried Interest Fairness Act of 2021 (H.R. 1068) on Feb. 16. For taxpayers with a profits interest in a partnership that invests in capital assets, such as stock and real estate, the bill would convert long-term capital gain to ordinary income. (Pensions & Investments and Bisnow, Feb. 16)

• As currently drafted, the House legislation would apply to dispositions of partnership interests, distributions of partnership property, and sales of partnership assets that occur in tax years ending after the date of enactment. Thus, if the bill became law this summer or fall, and a partnership’s tax year corresponded with the calendar year, the tax increase would apply to gains realized after December 31, 2020. There is no provision that would exempt or grandfather prior partnership agreements, even though the agreements were negotiated based on well-settled tax law as it existed at the time.
• The top individual income tax rate today is 37%. The current maximum tax rate on long-term capital gain is 20%.  In some cases, an additional 3.8% tax on net investment income also applies. 
• The six co-sponsors of H.R. 1068 are Reps. Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Judy Chu (D-CA), Andy Levin (D-MI), Katie Porter (D-CA) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY). (Rep. Pascrell news release, Feb. 16).  Similar legislation has been introduced in every Congress since 2010.
• In the Senate, incoming Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) outlined his tax agenda during a Jan. 13 call with reporters, including plans to move forward with an increase in the corporate tax rate and major changes in the taxation of individual capital gains. Wyden added he would also pursue raising the current 21% corporate tax rate and change the tax treatment of carried interest (Roundtable Weekly, Jan. 15).
• During the Presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden did not put forward a carried interest proposal, but rather proposed raising the maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains to create rate parity with wages, rental income, and other sources of ordinary income. 

The Roundtable & Carried Interest

• The Roundtable has consistently opposed proposals to tax all carried interest at ordinary income rates. Congress likewise has consistently rejected proposals to recharacterize all profits interests as ordinary income. Carried interest is not compensation for services.  General partners receive fees for routine services like leasing and property management.  Those fees are taxed at ordinary tax rates.  The carried interest is granted for the value the general partner adds to the venture beyond routine services, such as business acumen, experience, and relationships.  It is also recognition of the risks the general partner takes with respect to the general partnership’s liabilities, such as predevelopment costs and potential litigation. 

• “Taxing carried interest at ordinary income rates would discourage the risk taking and sweat equity that drives job creation and economic growth,” said Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer. “It would encourage real estate owners to borrow more money to avoid taking on equity partners, and it would make it more expensive to build or improve real estate and infrastructure, including workforce housing, assisted living communities, and industrial properties, to name just a few. Some development simply won’t happen, especially in long-neglected neighborhoods or on land with potential environmental contamination,” DeBoer added.

• The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 created a 3-year holding period requirement for carried interest to qualify for the long-term capital gains rate.

As Congress considers additional economic recovery legislation, The Roundtable and its Tax Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) will continue working with policymakers, including the Congressional tax-writing committees, to preserve and improve tax rules that promote capital formation and the appropriate treatment of entrepreneurial activity and productive risk-taking.   

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