Unions Launch Global Campaign To Close Tax Loopholes For Ultra-Wealthy

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

06 June 2008

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), joined by union leaders from Europe, India, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America, have launched a global campaign directed at world leaders and legislators protesting the "special treatment" and "tax loopholes" for private equity firms.

In an announcement on 4th June, the SEIU, which represents 2 million workers in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, not unsurprisingly, given such organisations' usual positions on the matter, argued that private equity firms such as KKR, are exacerbating the economic slowdown with "risky" debt-laden deals, and should not be rewarded with special treatment by the US tax code.

On 17th July the SEIU announced that it plans an outreach to more than 10 million people worldwide, which will include demonstrations in 100 cities and 25 countries, and the gathering of petitions directed at legislators.

According to the SEIU, KKR spent more than USD2mn last year on lobbying, including to defeat legislation that would have closed a lucrative tax provision for hedge fund and private equity managers.

"The responsibility to create a healthy world economy is shared by all," asserted Andrew L. Stern, president of SEIU, "and that means companies like KKR have a responsibility that extends beyond making a few people rich."

Recommended