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While the controversy surrounding carried interest has existed for some time, it has faced increasing media scrutiny since the last presidential election when it surfaced that Mitt Romney paid taxes of $1.9 million on $13.69 million in income in 2011, an effective 14.1 percent rate<ref name = "mitt" />. Perhaps in response to the media and public uproar, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 raised what was then a capital gains tax of 15 percent to 20 percent and was signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013<ref name = "wiki" />. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, being akin to those "hedge-fund guys" is politically precarious. It wouldn't be surprising if the current election's focus on increasing the capital gains tax had something to do with Romney's blunders.

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