Gore’s Inconvenient Tax Hypocrisy

As NewsBusters has been reporting, Nobel Laureate Al Gore's recent employment by a Silicon Valley venture capital firm puts him in a fabulous position to turn his estimated $100 million net worth into billions.

Upon further examination of the particulars, Gore's fortunes might rest on the defeat of tax law changes currently proposed by Democrats.

Maybe more delicious, as a former congressman whose voting record shows a proclivity towards higher taxes, this could pit Gore's future earnings potential against his legislative history, especially if he ends up not supporting Democrat efforts to close a tax loophole enjoyed by hedge funds and venture capital firms.

As reported by TheStreet.com Wednesday (emphasis added throughout):

In addition to hedge funds and private-equity firms, the so-called "carried interest" tax measure in Congress would also cost venture capitalists -- perhaps including former vice president and recent Nobel Peace Price winner Al Gore.

VC giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers recently announced that Gore will join the firm as a partner in its effort to finance global-warming solutions, and it said he will donate 100% of his salary from the arrangement to charity. However, it made no mention of what he will do with stock options and potentially hefty carried-interest-related fees.

Meanwhile, Kleiner Perkins is an outspoken opponent of legislation on Capitol Hill that would tax carried-interest earnings for investment partnerships at the 30% rate for ordinary income instead of the lower capital gains rate of 15%. That puts Gore's new employer at odds with many of his fellow Democrats.

Pretty delicious, don't you agree? But it gets better:

Through a spokeswoman, Gore declined to take a position on the carried interest taxation issue. He also declined to comment on whether he will keep non-salary forms of compensation from his work at Kleiner Perkins.

Democrats in the House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would double the tax rate on carried interest earnings for investment partnerships. They say the legislation closes a loophole in the tax law that has allowed elite investment professionals to pay half the tax rate on a large chunk of their income that other professionals have to pay, at a time when the federal government is accumulating massive debts.

So, let's add up that which media outlets are sure to ignore.

First, Gore takes a position with Kleiner Perkins, and the press make a big deal about how he's donating his salary to his own climate change foundation. However, what they chose not to share with the public was that by doing so, Gore would not pay one cent of income tax on said salary, but would still be able to control the funds by virtue of them being donated to his organization.

Pretty sweet, wouldn't you agree?

But that's only the beginning of the hypocrisy, for as NewsBusters has discussed, and as covered in this TheStreet.com piece, the real earnings for a venture capitalist come as a result of investments made by one's firm which under current law are only taxed at 15 percent.

However, as Gore has consistently been in favor of higher taxation, it is not only quite clear that he has structured his deal with Kleiner Perkins to avoid income tax, but likely is now on the opposite side of tax legislation that's already cleared the Democrat-controlled House.

Most importantly, Gore's voting record strongly suggests that when he was in Congress, or even running for President, he would have supported this legislation.

Yet, now that he has a vested interest in it not passing, Gore has declined to comment.

Talk about your inconvenient truths.

In the end, folks, with every breath he takes, and every move he makes, Al Gore is the embodiment of the liberal motif "Do As I Say, Not As I Do!"