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Twitter reaction to Trump’s proposed carried-interest tax policy

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It didn’t take long for the National Venture Capital Association to respond to Donald Trump‘s plan to eliminate the special tax treatment for carried interest, saying that his proposed policy would negatively impact the U.S. entrepreneurial ecosystem.

While speaking at the Detroit Economic Club on Aug. 8, the Republican presidential candidate provided a rough outline on his tax and economic priorities. If elected, Trump vowed to do away with the carried-interest tax benefit, which is currently treated like capital gains at rates as low as 23.8 percent.

“Despite the populist uproar, carried interest has been an important feature of the tax code that properly aligns the long-term interests of investors and entrepreneurs to build great companies together, and is only realized after our country receives the benefit of greater economic activity,” NVCA President Bobby Franklin said in a statement, as PE Hub reported.

The proposal to eliminate carried interest is nothing new. Some Republicans and Democrats have suggested this before.

However, Politico pointed out the candidate’s overall economic plan might mean lower taxes for investment fund partners. Under Trump’s broad proposal for corporate tax-rate reductions, partners may be taxed instead at 15 percent, meaning investors could see a tax cut rather than a tax hike by claiming the carried-interest profit as business income.

Economists say that the scant details Trump offered in his policy speech only made his proposals more confusing.

“Whoever wrote this [Trump’s speech], I don’t think they know what carried interest is or how it works,” Ryan Ellis, a senior fellow at the Conservative Reform Network, told the Washington Post.

Folks on Twitter also reacted, as you can see below with comments and links to additional articles on the topic:

Photo of businesswoman worried about taxes courtesy of ©iStock/Ximagination