Trump Wanted to Close This Wall Street Tax Loophole. Republicans Left It Out.

Republican House lawmakers told NOTUS they debated closing the “carried interest loophole” but ultimately sided with the private equity industry.

House Ways and Means Committee Reconciliation
The House Ways and Means Committee left changes to the “carried interest loophole” out of the reconciliation bill. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP

A provision to eliminate Wall Street’s favorite tax break — pushed by President Donald Trump — was conspicuously absent from House Republicans’ tax bill following an expensive lobbying campaign by the private equity and venture capital industries.

The lobbying campaign kicked into high gear after President Donald Trump told Republicans earlier this year that he wanted to close the so-called “carried interest loophole,” referring to the significantly lower tax rate for profits on certain investments compared to ordinary income.

“There was a lot of concerns about what it was going to do to the private equity industry,” Rep. Kevin Hern, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, told NOTUS when asked why the provision did not make it into the tax bill.