WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- U.S. Congress tax-writing committees are reported studying a proposal to possibly end a hedge fund tax break.
The proposal, far broader than the one affecting private equity funds that go public, introduced last week in the Senate, would affect many more firms and could raise as much as $6 billion a year, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The little-known tax break, as it now stands, reportedly allows wealthy financiers who run private equity firms and hedge funds to cut their total income tax bills by billions of dollars.
Aides to lawmakers say the new proposal may be attached to a tax bill expected as early as July. It was seen as a way of offsetting some of the cost to the U.S. Treasury of relieving the burden of the alternative minimum tax, which has shifted to more middle-class taxpayers.
Congress' sudden interest in raising taxes on wealthy private equity and hedge fund operators already has triggered considerable opposition, the Times said.
