According to the plan posted on his website, Trump wants to tax carried interest as ordinary income. The income tax for top earners, including most private equity managers, would sit at 33 percent, Trump proposes.

That change would trim millions of dollars from top managers’ wallets. Blackstone’s Schwarzman would take home $8.1 million less if his 2015 carry, the most recently disclosed payout, were taxed at Trump’s top rate. KKR co-CEOs Kravis and George Roberts, who awarded themselves equal amounts of carry in 2015, would shave off about $4.7 million each.

But it’s not that simple. Trump said in May that he wants to tax business income of all stripes at 15 percent, though it’s unclear how exactly that rate would apply to pass-through income. Pass-throughs are the preferred legal structure for private equity firms to pass profits to individuals. The rate for pass-through income currently under review by House Republicans is 25 percent.

If carry becomes taxed at ordinary income rates and current Republican proposals take effect, many private equity managers could structure their carry to be taxed at 25 percent -- only marginally higher than the current 23.8 percent rate.

2) Interest Deductibility

The ability to finance a buyout by saddling a company with debt is key to the private equity playbook. Under current tax law, buyout shops can knock the portfolio company’s cost of debt -- interest expense -- off of its taxable income. Firms use this allowance to reduce the target company’s tax liability. It also makes leverage more attractive.

“Any new tax policy targeting interest deductibility would harm the economy by raising costs on businesses of all sizes and types, which would reduce investment and growth,” said Maloney of the American Investment Council.

Trump wants to make companies an offer: either keep interest deductions or forgo them but gain the ability to immediately expense capital investment. The tax blueprint proposed by House Republicans gives no such choice.

The House plan replaces net interest deductibility with immediate write-off of new equipment in the first year of ownership, freeing up tax dollars to reinvest in the business. While this encourages spending, it also deals a huge blow to the debt equation for private equity firms.

“If you eliminate the interest deduction or limit it, and therefore limit the amount of debt, you change the entire return calculation of a deal,” said Bob Press, the CEO of TCA Fund Management Group.