Senator Schumer Fights Tax Increase

The New York Sun reports:

Senator Schumer is often on the other side of us in policy disputes, but he is a tenacious advocate, and when he is on the right side of an issue, he deserves a tip of the hat. Especially when New York's other senator is ducking the issue, apparently too busy running for president to take a stand on an issue that is important to the state that elected her. It's even more especially so when Mr. Schumer's position requires bucking that of the newspaper that stands for left-wing conventional wisdom.

That it does on the matter of two tax increases that have been proposed on hedge funds and private equity funds, one that would tax carried interest of money mangers in funds as ordinary income rather than capital gains and another that would impose a corporate income tax on funds that go public. These two ideas are being hustled through the Congress in the wake of the reports of rapid rises in weath of hedge fund captains and in the wake of Blackstone's IPO.

At a hearing in Congress this week on the tax increases, Mr. Schumer was emphatic. America "shouldn't do anything" to "make it easier for capital and ideas to flow to London or anywhere else," Mr. Schumer said, according to an account by the Bloomberg wire. "I will fight as hard as I can to protect the interests of New York, and ensure that it remains the preeminent financial center in the world."

Senator Schumer realizes New York City isn't a great place to do business.Higher taxes will not help.