How a powerful industry conquered the U.S. tax system. :
By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni The $4.5 trillion buyout industry “has perfected sleight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies so aggressive that at least three private equity officials have alerted the Internal Revenue Service to potentially illegal tactics,” according to a new investigation by The Times. These previously unreported whistle-blower claims involved dozens of private equity firms, Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim report. I.R.S. audits of private equity firms are “almost nonexistent,” said Michael Desmond, who stepped down this year as the I.R.S.’s chief counsel.