Why Hillary Clinton Is Going After Hedge Funds
Hillary Clinton’s got a problem with hedge fund managers — or at least with the way they’re taxed.
The expected frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination is avoiding policy specifics for now, but the taxation of hedge fund managers — an elite class of investors who will no doubt pour millions into Clinton’s second White House bid — has been an early exception.
“There’s something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers that I saw on I-80 as I was driving here,” Clinton told a small group of roundtable participants in Monticello, Iowa, this week.
Clinton is expected to outline a more expansive range of policy proposals in the coming months. But by hitting on Wall Street tax breaks within the first few days of hitting the campaign trail, Clinton is embracing a populist agenda. The former secretary of state is keenly aware that progressive activists — some of whom prefer liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren over Clinton — are watching her moves carefully.