| Income-generating assets have had a challenging time since the pandemic began. Popular income vehicles like real estate investment trusts (REITs) and master limited partnerships (MLPs) have been especially hard-hit. Shut-down orders impacted the ability of tenants to pay rents, which hurt REITs. The plunge in energy prices negatively impacted MLPs, because the majority are pipeline MLPs. MLPs Take a Hit Until the oil price crash of 2014, MLPs had long been favored for their above average yields and stable returns. Many MLPs yielded 6%-8% and steadily grew those distributions year after year. Midstream MLPs are typically viewed as toll collectors for oil and gas producers that use their pipelines. Their cash flows are protected by long-term, take-or-pay agreements. As such, their fortunes aren't as subject to the ups and downs of oil and gas prices. But the oil price crash was so deep that it ultimately clobbered MLPs as well. That shook investor confidence in MLPs. More events would follow that would decrease the attraction of the MLP structure versus a corporate structure. In 2017, President Trump signed a tax reform bill that dropped the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. This is great for corporations, but it significantly reduced the key tax advantage an MLP held over a corporation. This move made MLPs a less attractive option than they had been, because there is additional complexity in tax filing for MLP investors. Second, a ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse a longstanding policy on MLP tax costs for interstate pipelines drove up the cost of business for some companies. Several MLPs were significantly hurt by the FERC ruling, again reducing one of the advantages they held over a comparable corporation. Finally, many MLPs pay incentive distribution rights (IDRs) to their sponsors. Elimination of IDRs has been cited as another incentive driving some MLPs to convert to corporations, because these IDRs can be a drag on growth after a while. These factors combined to shrink the pool of MLPs as many converted to corporations. That in turn resulted in institutional capital exiting MLPs, which has created net selling pressure on the sector. Many of the remaining MLPs have publicly discussed the possibility of converting. There is plenty of evidence that the market is now favoring a corporate structure over the MLP structure. A Case Study Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE: BIP) provides an instructive example. Last September, this MLP announced that it was going to spin off a new class of shares based on a corporate structure. The details, from the press release announcing the creation of the shares, explained the motivation: | 
Source: Google Finance[/caption] 
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