Of course this is true. The fund managers currently only have to pay a 15 percent tax rate on much of their pay. By contrast, without the tax break, most of them will pay a 35 percent tax rate. Nonetheless, the Post's way of characterizing the removal of a tax break for some of the richest people in the country is rather unusual. I suppose this is case of the glass being half empty or half full. People who are upset about a special tax break for extremely rich fund managers focus on the fact that the tax break allows them to pay a tax rate that is 60 percent lower than what the law would require in the absence of special treatment. On the other hand, people who are sympathetic to the extremely rich fund managers focus on the fact that removing the tax break will more than double the tax rate that these managers will pay on their compensation.
--Dean Baker