No, it is not a dividend from the profits of the company.
It is a grant of an equity interest, usually in the form of freshly issued shares, to a fund manager, as his fee for managing the private equity fund. However at the time the equity is granted, it is not taxed to the manager or anyone else, and when he ultimately sells it, it is only taxed at a 15% rate.
It’s no different from if you worked at Ford, and instead of a salary they gave you cars tax free, and then when you sold them you only paid a 15% tax on the proceeds.
so your saying the dividend/payment comes from retained earnings, ie post tax income. thus those funds have already paid corporate taxes.
So you think a 50%+ tax rate is ok.