By Neil Wilson
Following the tremendous growth of hedge funds and private equity in recent years - and the fortunes being made by top managers - it is not surprising that the issue of how much tax they pay has become such a political hot potato in the United States. Meanwhile, a very similar debate has been bubbling up in the U.K. too.
As is the case in America, the visible success of both hedge funds and private equity in the U.K. has attracted increasing attention. To the wider public, the idea that people making fortunes from these businesses should be paying lower rates of tax is of course potentially incendiary. It puts pressure on politicians to take a closer look at the tax system - and on the tax authorities to take action to shut down anything that might be seen as a loophole through which managers are gaining any...