Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein said US lawmakers are "unlikely" to take up legislation this year that could potentially increase taxes on deal profits reaped by private equity managers.

Rubenstein's comments came after the chairman of the US House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Dave Camp of Michigan, said Congress should "clean up" the treatment of private equity firms' share of deal profits, called "carried interest". These profits are currently treated as capital gains and taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income.