Most people complain, rightfully, about the complexity of the federal tax code. The cost of complying with the code, by businesses and individuals, is estimated to be about $100 billion annually.

But the tax code, and the complexity that Congress has built into its over 50,000 pages, is a thing of beauty to the clever accountants and powerful executives on Wall Street. The billionaire owners of the leading private equity firms are the latest group to benefit from tax code complexities.

A recent New York Times article outlined how the owners of The Blackstone Group, a major private equity firm, made about $3.7 billion by selling shares to the public early this month.

Talk about the tax loophole, which many in Congress, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, have vowed to close, was triggered by the news that Stephen Schwarzman, co-owner of the Blackstone Group, made nearly $400 million last year — yet, Schwarzman will pay a low tax rate of just 15 percent. Schwarzman will pocket many millions more of his windfall because private equity firms classify their profits as capital gains rather than ordinary income, which is taxed at higher rates.

But the Blackstone deal apparently goes well beyond billionaires benefiting from a preferred tax rate on capital gains. Analyzing the high-profile private equity deal, tax specialists have discovered that Blackstone will utilize accounting tools, or gimmicks, to value its intangible assets as "good will."

The Times article noted that "Blackstone then arranged to get deductions for itself for the $3.7 billion worth of good will at a 35 percent rate." Referring to the low, 15 percent tax rate applied to capital gains, the article went on to say, "This is a twist on the 'buy low, sell high' stock market adage; in this case it would be 'tax low, deduct high.' "

It's all very complicated, but it comes down to the ability of very smart (and very well-paid) accountants and lawyers to find creative ways to game the system. And the overly complex tax code, which is the creation of Congress and not the Internal Revenue Service, gives them plenty of material to work with.

Using a complicated strategy enabled by the convoluted federal tax code, Blackstone's partners will actually get back, through tax deductions, $198 million more than the $553 million they will pay in taxes.

Not surprisingly, this highly profitable scheme, characterized by audacity and greed, has attracted attention in Congress.

In addition to Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. (and fellow presidential contender) John Edwards also have called for closing the tax loophole revealed by the Blackstone deal.

Edwards, whose campaign speeches often refer to the inequities between "two Americas," said he supports efforts "to ensure that hedge fund and private equity managers making hundreds of millions a year no longer pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries."

Some observers warn, however, that simply closing this loophole in the tax code will not be enough. They suggest these very smart and very motivated people on Wall Street will just find other ways to game the system and use the complicated tax code to find tricks to keep paying taxes at preferential rates.

Simplifying the tax code and imposing some form of a flat tax would be the best solution to this, and other tax inequities. But, politicians in Congress who introduced many of the tax code's complexities in response to requests from special interests and campaign contributors, are not likely to go down that path. They are beholden to those special interests to maintain the status quo — a system that can be gamed by the arrogant and greedy, leaving honest taxpayers to pay more than their fair share.