Taxes

A Record Buyout Is Just the Start as Wealthy Flee Tax Hike

  • Fear of higher U.S. capital gains tax spurs Medline sale
  • Families, private equity firms are preparing a deluge of deals

Photographer: Sipa via AP Images

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For 110 years, four generations of Mills family members earned their money by expanding their great-grandfather’s Chicago apron business into a medical supplier that ranked among the nation’s largest private companies.

But soon after Democrats turned their attention toward raising taxes for the wealthy this year, the family signed a deal to cash out billions.