Senators Blast Dem Mega-Donor Over IRS Investigation into Tax Avoidance Scheme

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Free Beacon:

A major Democratic donor who is funding some of the left’s most politically active electioneering groups was subject to bipartisan condemnation this week in the midst of a federal investigation into his hedge fund’s tax avoidance schemes.

 

Senators from both parties blasted efforts by Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund owned by Democratic mega-donor Jim Simons, to shield itself from federal income taxes during a Tuesday hearing.

 

“Two banks and a handful of hedge funds developed a complex financial structure to engage in highly profitable trades while claiming an unjustified lower tax rate and avoiding limits on trading with borrowed money,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) in his prepared remarks.

 

Levin chairs the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is investigating the use of transactions known as “barrier options” to subject profits from complex financial instruments to capital gains tax rates, instead of much higher rates on standard financial trades.