Hometown companies noweyeing theexits
Top New York firms that toughed it out in the pandemic are now considering packing their bags over $7 billion in proposed state taxes.
At least 20 finance and tech companies are poised to leave for sunny, low-tax Florida, said Kathyrn Wylde, CEO of the business-backed Partnership for New York City.
James Whelan, president of the powerful Real Estate Board of New York, said, “The Legislature’s proposals will move us in the opposite direction by driving away the businesses and tax base required to do that.”
If the Legislature passes its $208 billion taxand-spend plan, Wylde said, “New York state will be the most-taxed state in the country.”
Tech jobs, which easily went remote in 2020, are particularly vulnerable to relocation.
“Technology is our most important job creator in New York right now, and they’re already making decisions about not staying in New York,” Wylde said.
Big names on Wall Street have threatened to exit if Albany enacts a proposed stock-transfer tax, under which the state would claim a percentage of the proceeds from every purchase or sale of stock or other security.
“Many employees of ‘Wall Street’ firms are migrating to Florida, Texas and other states with hospitable tax policies,” Stacey Cunningham, president of the New York Stock Exchange, warned last month in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “If Albany lawmakers get their way . . . the center of the global financial industry may need to find a new home.”
Douglas Cifu, CEO of the Manhattan-based high-frequency trader Virtu Financial, has threatened to bolt, saying: “We have an office in Florida, and we would just leave the state of New York. We would never pay any of the New York state [stock-transfer] tax.”
Goldman Sachs is reportedly considering relocating its asset-management arm to Florida.
The exodus might not be limited to assetlight firms whose employees work by laptop.
New York’s hometown airline, JetBlue, said in a March 11 memo to staff that it was “exploring” moving “a to-be-determined number of roles to existing support centers in Florida.”
Whelan, of REBNY, offered a doomsday prediction: “We have been down this road before. In the 1960s and 1970s, such policies ultimately discouraged investment in New York City and led to a diminished tax base and fewer resources for the delivery of government services. The results were devastating — two decades of fiscal problems along with rising crime and unacceptable quality of life.”