Congressional lawmakers have inserted a line into President Donald Trump’s new tax bill that would reward Wall Street firms with billions of dollars of new tax breaks when they load up companies with debt and proceed with worker pay cuts, factory closures, and mass layoffs, according to bill text reviewed by the Lever.
The new bipartisan provision is the culmination of a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign by private equity giants, whose executives have been among the biggest supporters of Trump and the lawmakers behind the legislation.
The provision, which uses the tax code to effectively subsidize Wall Street firms’ takeovers of small- and medium-sized businesses, follows a landmark study demonstrating that employment quickly shrinks at companies when they are purchased by private equity firms. It also follows new data showing a record number of private equity–owned companies are being driven into bankruptcy.
The arcane provision buried in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act moving through Congress would raise the business tax deduction that private equity–owned companies can claim on interest payments they make to pay back loans.
Private equity firms primarily benefit from this deduction because they typically borrow money to acquire businesses, then load those companies up with more debt as they strip down the companies, often leading them into bankruptcy. Indeed, insurmountable levels of debt were at issue in recent corporate collapses like Toys “R” Us, Red Lobster, and Forever 21, as well as essential hospital networks and hundreds of small businesses.
Lawmakers have not broadcast the implications of the new language. The bill text summary released last week euphemistically says only that “this provision increases the…
Auteur: Luke Goldstein
