VC lobby gets entrepreneurs to fight VC tax

The lobby group for venture capital firms has rounded up more than 500 entrepreneurs to sign a letter (downloads pdf) to Congress arguing against the proposed VC tax.

We’ve argued several times that raising tax on the carried interest of venture capital profits is the fair thing to do — because VCs aren’t taking risks on the money being considered.

But the VC lobby in Washington — the National Venture Capital Association — continues to hold out for its loophole, which gives VCs the low 15 percent capital gains tax rate on the profits they get for investing money for large institutions. The moves comes in response to legislation introduced last week by Chairman Charles Rangel to increase the tax on “carried interest,” as it is called, to the regular income tax, which is rate the rest of us regular folk pay. For most VCs, the rate would be 35 percent.

Here’s our argument on the VC tax.

Next Story: Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 29, 2007
Previous Story: Shipwire raises $4M for storing and shipping products for ecommerce sites