Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday defended the decision to remove the carried interest tax provision from the Inflation Reduction Act in order to appease Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
"I'm pleased we have reached an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act that I believe will receive the support of the entire Senate Democratic conference," Schumer said, according to The Hill.
"I believe strongly in the carried interest loophole, I have voted for it, I have pushed for it, I have pushed for it to be in this bill," he added. "Sen. Sinema said she would not vote for the bill, not even move to proceed unless we took it out, so we had no choice."
Schumer said he agreed to remove "two pieces" of the provision on corporate minimum tax, which will lower the revenue it's expected to raise in the next 10 years.
"What we added is something that excites me, and I think excites all Democrats and particularly progressives. We're adding in an excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in $74 billion," he said.
"I hate stock buybacks. I think they're one of the most self-serving things that corporate America does. They don’t do a thing to make their company better and they artificially raise the stock price just by just reducing the number of shares. They're despicable."
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