Edwards backs 'Blackstone bill'

Presidential candidate John Edwards stands behind proposed tax hikes for private-equity and hedge fund managers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Campaigning in New Hampshire, Mr. Edwards told the Journal that he not only supported the so-called Blackstone bill, which would place corporate taxes on publicly traded private-equity partnerships, but he also called hedge fund managers’ earnings to be taxed as ordinary income and not at the 15% capital gains rate. Mr. Edwards also pushed for measures that would keep these managers from avoiding taxes by moving their income into offshore entities. These combined steps would rake in $4 billion to $6 billion in annually, he said. Mr. Edwards’ statement on hedge fund taxation came just in time for this week’s House and Senate committees’ hearings on the issue.