“The current plan, by raising standard deduction so high, dilutes the importance of the mortgage interest
deduction,” said Gerald Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders.
“We are working to educate as many lawmakers as we can,” said James Maloney, vice president for public
affairs at the American Investment Council, which represents the private equity industry.
Many aspects of the House tax blueprint, the most specific plan floating around the capital, are already creating consternation across a swath of sectors
that have learned over the years how to make do with the status quo, however cumbersome.
Mr. Trump, taking up a call from his predecessor, Barack Obama, campaigned to end the loophole,
and because Mr. Ryan’s plan is silent on the matter, it could be in jeopardy.
The plan has divided industries that have for years called for changes to the tax system, pitting retail
and energy giants — which rely heavily on imports — against America’s biggest manufacturers, which hope the proposal will make their exports cheaper around the world.
Private equity has for years guarded the special treatment of “carried interest,” a loophole
that lets billionaire fund managers pay low capital gains tax rates instead of higher income tax rates on the fees they charge clients.
In a letter to Gary Cohn, director of the president’s National Economic Council, lobbyists including the American Benefits Council, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Staffing Association argued
that the exclusion would represent a new tax on the middle class.