It will be interesting to see if the announcement Thursday from billionaire Thomas Golisano will have any impact on Albany.
The Paychex founder announced that he was changing his residence from New York to Florida to save $5 million annually in personal income taxes.
Golisano has a propensity for making headlines. Three quixotic quests for the Executive Mansion in Albany as a third party candidate cost him as much as $75 million of his own money.
In his latest move, he is at least singular proof that those with wealth can vote directly on the job Albany is doing - with their feet. Proponents of the so called “millionaire's tax” (that really dropped to $500,000 by the time the Democratically controlled Legislature and Gov. David Paterson got done with it) said that it wouldn't force New York's wealthy to leave the state. Clearly Golisano is countering that point noting roughly 13,800 reasons a day that he should not be a resident of the Empire State.
Can anyone really blame him for wanting to minimize his tax exposure? Why would anyone want to personally pay an extra $5 million, especially when you don't see the powers that be in Albany having any spending discipline with what you pay on April 15?
So we have at least one high profile millionaire, saying that the “millionaire's tax” is driving him out of New York.
He has the ability to run his operations from outside the Empire State. Is this a sign of what is to come down the pike as Albany fails to get its fiscal house in order? Today, more and more members of management can be mobile and manage their companies and teams through a few clicks on a keyboard and calls via a cell phone from a distance. At least for now, he hasn't pulled Paychex out of Rochester.
Just as importantly, New York should not only be worried about the wealth producers who are already here, who might walk, but those who have yet to make their millions and those who are deciding where to launch their new ventures. If the Golisano story is an example of anything, it is that the tax and spend mentality of Albany (and by the way many of its counties and cities) creates an inhospitable landscape for those who can and want to create wealth.
The big question now is whether Albany will see this only as a stunt by someone who likes the limelight and wants to make a splash or a lesson in the consequences of not being fiscally disciplined?
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
Golisano has a propensity for making headlines. Three quixotic quests for the Executive Mansion in Albany as a third party candidate cost him as much as $75 million of his own money.
In his latest move, he is at least singular proof that those with wealth can vote directly on the job Albany is doing - with their feet. Proponents of the so called “millionaire's tax” (that really dropped to $500,000 by the time the Democratically controlled Legislature and Gov. David Paterson got done with it) said that it wouldn't force New York's wealthy to leave the state. Clearly Golisano is countering that point noting roughly 13,800 reasons a day that he should not be a resident of the Empire State.
Can anyone really blame him for wanting to minimize his tax exposure? Why would anyone want to personally pay an extra $5 million, especially when you don't see the powers that be in Albany having any spending discipline with what you pay on April 15?
So we have at least one high profile millionaire, saying that the “millionaire's tax” is driving him out of New York.
He has the ability to run his operations from outside the Empire State. Is this a sign of what is to come down the pike as Albany fails to get its fiscal house in order? Today, more and more members of management can be mobile and manage their companies and teams through a few clicks on a keyboard and calls via a cell phone from a distance. At least for now, he hasn't pulled Paychex out of Rochester.
Just as importantly, New York should not only be worried about the wealth producers who are already here, who might walk, but those who have yet to make their millions and those who are deciding where to launch their new ventures. If the Golisano story is an example of anything, it is that the tax and spend mentality of Albany (and by the way many of its counties and cities) creates an inhospitable landscape for those who can and want to create wealth.
The big question now is whether Albany will see this only as a stunt by someone who likes the limelight and wants to make a splash or a lesson in the consequences of not being fiscally disciplined?
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
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Andy b wrote on May 20, 2009 9:32 AM:
a.mom wrote on May 20, 2009 12:24 AM:
There are plenty of people who comment on these news stories who support punitive taxes on the rich. I have endlessly tried to point out that rich people will leave the state when they feel they are being unfairly taxed. Tom Golisano is merely one of the more visible ones.
Yesterday the WSJ did a story - over the period from 1998-2007, 1100 people per day (including weekends and holidays) moved from the top 8 high tax states to the top 8 low or no tax states. That doesn't count the people who chose not to locate in the high tax states to begin with.
Again I ask, who will qualify as "rich" when all the rich people leave? "