If private equity activity needs a tax subsidy should it be happening?

Posted on

Reuters has reported that:

Private equity investors are threatening to leave the Netherlands due to a proposed law that could raise the tax they pay on investments to as much as 52 percent from 1.2 percent currently, investors said on Wednesday.

"If the government is proceeding with this law there is no reason for us to continue our activities. We will seriously consider going to do something else," said Floris van Alkemade of Solid Ventures, a company which has invested in six Dutch IT start-ups.

So here's a simple question? If these market participants think that their activity is only viable with a tax break (also known as a tax subsidy: they're one and the same thing) should they be happening?

You can be sure they'd argue against any state subsidy to a nationalised industry. Why is it OK then for a private equity operation to have that subsidy?


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here: