House to Vote on $49.5 Billion Hedge-Fund, Buyout-Firm Tax Rise

The U.S. House will take up a measure that would raise taxes on executives of hedge funds and private- equity firms by $49.5 billion over the next decade and prevents a separate tax increase on middle-income families this year.

The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee approved a $77 billion measure yesterday that would block the alternative minimum tax from imposing $50.6 billion in new levies on millions of households this year. The Democratic majority rejected Republican amendments to alleviate the minimum tax without raising taxes elsewhere to make up the lost revenue for the government.

``For those people who have been able to be evading the various taxes and avoiding taxes, we're sorry to have to include you in relief for 23 million people, but we think that's fair,'' said Representative Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat who heads the panel.

The committee's 22-13 vote along party lines marked the first legislative step in a race by lawmakers to forestall a minimum-tax increase by mid-November. The legislation must be approved by the full House, where it is opposed by many Republicans, and by the Senate, where the proposals to raise taxes on hedge-fund and private-equity managers may face resistance from lawmakers of both parties.

financial-stock.com