Dems off rails on hedge-fund tax increase

DEMOCRATIC politicians have become delusional, disingenuous or just flatout dishonest with their Pinocchiolike tale: That an increase in taxes on hedge funds and privateequity firms would help fight income and social inequality.

First off, let’s set the record straight — since the numbers are all over the place — using President Obama’s own figures from the Congressional Budget Office. The entire tax gain from raising the capital gains rate on hedge funds, which currently ranges from 15 percent to 39.5 percent depending on how long a position is held, might over 10 years raise $20 billion on a Federal budget of $3.34 trillion.

Compare that with the lobbying group the Motion Picture Association of America, which over the last 85 years has been quite successful getting tax credits for films.

Why is no candidate asking for Hollywood to give back tax breaks or millions in salary to fight income and social inequality?

In New York, there is the Empire State Film Production Tax Credit, enacted in 2004, that gives a 30 percent tax break to Hollywood producers, movie studios and stars to a tune of $420 million annually.

In California, the credit is 20 percent, with $330 million annually available.

The MPAA is run by the powerful and wellconnected former senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Dodd served in Washington for 36 years and gets his constitu ents fantastic tax breaks.

The hedge fund industry has no such powerful lobbying arm or a heavyweight former senator to lead an aggressive organization. Nor does it get any tax breaks or credits.

Even Mayor de Blasio, who hasn’t announced any intentions to make a run at the White House in 2016, is lecturing people in other states about income inequality throughout America.

The pols lambasting hedge funds don’t seem to know about the hedgiefounded Robin Hood Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonpolitical entity that for the last 25 years has raised $2 billion.

Its mission is “to provide hundreds of the most effective soup kitchens, homeless shelters, schools, jobtraining programs and other vital services that give New York’s neediest citizens the tools they need to build better lives.” They give full college scholarships, too, repayment not necessary.

These hedgefund managers all on their own have made a difference in thousands of the lives of underprivileged New Yorkers, while the politicians in charge of New York have failed.