WYDEN GOES AFTER TAX BREAKS FOR PGA TOUR, WEALTH FUNDS: “Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would make golf league PGA Tour ineligible for tax-exempt status and strip significant tax benefits from the sovereign wealth funds of a handful of countries,” POLITICO’s Benjamin Guggenheim reports, making good on a threat issued in the aftermath of the Tour’s announcement that it would join forces with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. — “Wyden’s first bill would bar sports organizations with assets exceeding $500 million from claiming tax-exempt status. PGA Tour had over $1.1 billion in revenue and $3.9 billion in assets in 2020, making it the largest sports organization to claim classification as a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt entity.” — “But Wyden’s second bill goes a step further by targeting tax benefits available to not only Saudi Arabia’ sovereign wealth fund but also the wealth funds of a handful of other countries that don’t have a tax treaty or free trade agreement with the U.S.” — “Funds with more than $100 billion available for investment globally that belong to nations designated by the State Department as ‘foreign countries’ of concern would also be made ineligible for the benefits, which are used by foreign governments to generate dividends, interest and capital gains from many of their investments in the U.S. tax-free.” — In addition to PIF and other Saudi wealth funds, his bill would strip the tax benefit from funds from Russia, China, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and includes a grandfather clause for some prior investments. SPARTZ SPARS WITH BEEF LOBBYIST: A dispute over an amendment for a House agriculture appropriations bill turned personal on Tuesday, with the amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), going after a beef industry lobbyist who suggested the congresswoman didn’t fully understand the issue at hand. — Per Morning Ag, Spartz’s amendment to the House Agriculture-FDA spending bill would limit taxpayer dollars to checkoff boards, triggering coordinated pushback from commodity trade groups representing beef, soybean, pork and milk producers. — Ethan Lane, the vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, noted to an industry publication that checkoff programs are funded by contributions from producers. “It really speaks to the fact that Representative Spartz and her team don’t understand completely the issue that they’re attempting to impact with the amendment,” he said. — In response, Spartz went after Lane directly in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Before Ethan Lane @BeefUSA insults me like I don’t know what I’m talking about, maybe he should take his fancy suit off & spend a day on a combine & under it getting his hands greasy,” she wrote. “Maybe then he’d care where checkoff fees he profits from are spent.” — “I’m sorry that Congresswoman is upset, but the simple fact is the farmers and ranchers we represent disagree with her and insulting me won't change that,” Lane told PI in an email. SPOTTED at a launch party for Modern Fortis last night at Bobby Van’s, per a tipster: Reps. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) former Reps. Kathleen Rice and Stephanie Murphy, Scott Fairchild of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) office, Sean Gard of Rep. Gwen Moore’s (D-Wis.) office, Aaron Poe of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office, Mary Werden of Rep. Frank Pallone’s (D-N.J.) office, Ethan Sonnichsen of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Gina Rigby-House of Aflac, Ray Beeman of Washington Council Ernst & Young, Minh Ta of Carlyle Group, Tim Trysla of Alston & Bird, Ali Wolpert of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Michelle Barth of NASA, Yvonne McIntyre of PG&E, Chris Michalakis of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Becky Levin of AFSCME and Tizzy Brown of GlobalWIN.
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