Why Pension Funds Are Hooked on Private Equity
When President Obama unveiled his budget last Wednesday, it rekindled a debate over taxation of the private equity industry. Many executives in the private equity business (as well as the venture capital and hedge fund businesses) pay the capital gains rate on their earnings rather than the higher rate paid on ordinary income. Even though these industries make most of their money from the appreciation of assets — the definition of “capital gains” — the President, and many others, believe it is unfair that employees of these funds are able to pay the capital gains rate. After all, these execs are getting paid to manage these funds, not for risking their own capital. Of course, the private equity industry isn’t going to take such a tax hike lying down. According to Politico, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council recently sent a white paper to the House Ways and Means Committeer extolling the benefits of private equity for America’s pension funds. According to the paper: “Since ...
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Obama Proposes Tax Credit for Small Businesses
Obama proposes 10 percent tax credit for small businesses that hired, gave workers a raise
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Obama’s Budget Would Cap Tax-Advantaged Savings
Some of us have worried for decades that when America’s tax-advantaged savings pot got large enough, our perpetually revenue-challenged federal government would raid the nest egg. All that untaxed growth would simply prove irresistible. That day may be at hand. President Obama’s budget, just sent to Congress, proposes to cap tax-advantaged savings across all accounts at $3 million in order to raise $9 billion over 10 years. The proposal is being spun as a way to prevent wealthy private-equity executives from amassing huge IRAs—like Mitt Romney’s, once estimated to be worth as much as $100 million. But it would also curb the savings ability of self-employed professionals like doctors and lawyers. As these business owners reach the cap, and there’s nothing left in it for them, they might shut down or reduce plans that benefit their employees. (MORE: Young Workers with a 401(k) Finally Get Diversified) The cap proposal is a clear play to unlock some of the $10 trillion sitting in ...
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Banks used small business funds to pay off bailout
An Obama administration program is under fire, with federal investigators finding that community banks used the government's funds to pay back recession-era bailouts -- instead of lending the money to small businesses as originally intended.
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Eurozone Unemployment at Record 12 Percent
(LONDON) — Unemployment across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro has struck 12 percent for the first time since the currency was launched in 1999, official figures showed Tuesday. Eurostat, the E.U.’s statistics office, said the rate in February was unchanged at the record high after January’s figure was revised up to 12 percent from 11.9 percent. (MORE: Europe’s Crisis Measures Are Working…Sort Of) Over the month, a net 33,000 people in the eurozone joined the ranks of the unemployed. Spain and Greece continued to suffer from unemployment rates above 26 percent, and many other countries were seeing their numbers swell to uncomfortable levels. It’s not all doom and gloom. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has an unemployment rate of only 5.4 percent. That’s even better than the U.S. rate of 7.7 percent. The February figures came before the recent Cyprus crisis, which has reignited concerns over the future of the euro. Under the terms of its bailout, big depositors ...
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