Schumer Wall Street Backers Targeted in Tax Fairness Debate

The Democratic Party’s tax-fairness campaign theme pits Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, among the chief architects of that message, against some of his most influential constituents and top campaign donors.

Democrats are renewing their bid to end the carried interest tax break for private-equity managers after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 2010 return, released last month, showed he used it to help limit his effective tax rate to 13.9 percent. The line of attack may be uncomfortable for Schumer as Wall Street leaders have been top contributors to his re-election and fundraising efforts, said Rogan Kersh, a public policy professor and lobbying expert at New York University.