We here at OMB Watch were so inspired by comments reported in today's Wall Street Journal that we decided to issue a brand new Fiscal Integrity Award. It takes a special person to come to the defense of the integrity of the capital gains tax. In recent weeks, its integrity has increasingly come under question, as members of Congress, the media, and yours truly have been focusing on a loophole that allows private equity fund managers' service compensation to be taxed at the capital gains rate. To the surprise of many, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) warns that failing to close up the "carried interest" loophole is, according to the Journal, tantamount to "failing to maintain the integrity of the 15% capital-gains rate", thereby rendering it vulnerable to attacks from those who want to let it rise to 20% in 2011, as it currently is scheduled to do: What I'm doing is an effort to ward off the demagogues on Capitol Hill that can say this is just a way for the rich to get richer, and the middle class to be stung... I would ask my Republican colleagues to look at it from that standpoint, that we want to make sure we aren't feeding the demagoguery of class warfare that the other party is always getting blue ribbons for doing. Well done, Sen. Grassley. You should give that guy who keeps insisting that AMT repeal shouldn't be offset a good talking-to.