Ben Stein lasted the tax code overhaul Thursday for retaining a carried interest provision giving private equity firms a tax break on their profit — decrying the loophole as "the way politics operates."
In an interview on Fox Business Network's "The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan," the conservative economist argued "it is insane what you can buy in politics in terms of the tax code — the idea people don't understand it, therefore we can do it — that is disgraceful excuse."
"That is just the way Washington operates, the way politics operates," he added.
President Donald Trump has been sharply criticized for allowing the loophole in the tax overhaul after vowing on the campaign trail he would kill it.
"The difference is stupendous when you talk about people with very, very high incomes," Stein argued. "If they take a tiny bit of that, pay the people in Washington, so those people can then lower their taxes, it is incredible bargain. There is no greater leverage in the world than giving money to political candidates."
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