Pressure is rising across the globe to raise taxes for private equity bosses, with German and Swedish authorities pushing for legislative changes and a leading US pension fund investor calling the 15 per cent rate in America “indefensible”.
Both the German and Swedish governments are considering proposals to lift tax rates for the industry’s profit sharing schemes, which private equity executives say are likely to trigger similar changes in Europe.
In the US, the comments about the industry’s taxes by Joe Dear, investment chief of Californian pension fund Calpers, come as Barack Obama, US president, is demanding that the wealthy pay more.