The delivery of the Obama Administration’s first budget at the end of February heralded the end of an era for the U.S. hedge fund industry.  Among its many proposals to sweep away the era of Reaganomics, the new Administration launched a plan to tax carried interest (also known in the hedge fund context as performance fees) at ordinary income rates.  Peter Pront, a Partner at Seward & Kissel LLP and head of the firm’s Tax Group, and his colleague Ronald Cima, also a Partner in Seward’s Tax Group, recently sat down with the Hedge Fund Law Report to discuss their suggestions on hedge fund tax law changes that they think should be considered by the Obama Administration as alternatives to the Administration’s current proposals.  We report on our conversation with Pront and Cima.