On June 28, the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) private tax debt collection program survived an effort by the House to bring it to a halt. House legislators struck language in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (H.R. 2829) that would have put a tight cap on how much funding could have been used to administer the program.

After decades of flying below the radar screen, a tax policy allowing private equity fund managers to claim their fee-based income as capital gains rather than ordinary income has suddenly become the subject of media scrutiny, congressional hearings and legislation. In June, the Blackstone Group, a large private equity firm, went public with an initial public offering, which resulted in billion-dollar profits for the principals. This triggered House Ways & Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee chairs Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Sen.