The commercial real estate industry secured a victory when the debt limit bill enacted in August omitted a tax increase on carried interest. NAA/NMHC and a coalition of organizations had mounted an aggressive public relations campaign to oppose such a change after it was mentioned early in the negotiations by President Obama.
Through media outreach and a coordinated advertising campaign in publications targeting Capitol Hill, we made the case that raising taxes on carried interest isn’t just a Wall Street issue and would have a serious detrimental impact on Main Street. Visit
http://tinyurl.com/4td5kr.
The threat of a future tax increase is far from over, however. The debt limit legislation created a deficit reduction panel of 12 members of Congress, which is charged with identifying $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving.
Taxes, including carried interest, as well as a possible scaling back of the mortgage interest deduction, may again be on the table.
If the panel embraces the carried interest proposal, the threat would be even more serious than in the past because, under the terms of the legislation, if seven of the 12 panel members agreed on the package of recommendations it would move through the House and Senate under a fast-track procedure that would prevent it from being amended or altered.
NAA/NMHC and our real estate partners will continue to make the case that a carried interest increase would harm our economic recovery and the production of affordable housing.