birdwatcher

NY POST -- Even as New York lawmakers geared up to slam out-of-state hedge-fund managers with $50 million in new taxes, Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell was rolling out the welcome mat for the super-rich executives.
"I would like to convey a very simple, yet heartfelt, message: Connecticut welcomes you!" the Republican executive declared in a letter to the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable.
"I can assure you Connecticut has been pursuing and will continue to pursue a much more enlightened approach to job creation and retention and economic development," Rell continued.
She promised to "do anything possible" to help fund managers find prime office space and "great homes and good schools" for their families.

"I think it's the best thing that ever happened to Connecticut," Mayor Bloomberg said. "I can't imagine why every hedge fund wouldn't pick up tomorrow and move. The first common-sense rule of taxation is, don't tax people that can leave."

RMS -- I have a proposal for how to solve this problem. I think the states should increase their bargaining power against companies by forming a union. We could call it the "United States of America."

Bloomberg -- “It’s a personal choice: you have to trade off the right infrastructure, work environment, the country you grew up in, your family, the schools (язык, языл забыл!), your whole life, with wealth,” said Richard Wilson, partner at London-based private equity firm Apax Partners LLP.

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- London Mayor Boris Johnson said that as many as 9,000 bankers may leave the U.K. capital’s financial district as a result of a 50 percent tax on bonuses announced last month.

“Such ill-thought out plans come at a time when there is light at the end of the recessionary tunnel and London is excellently placed to compete and prosper in the global market place,” Johnson said. “That prosperity will be threatened and the whole U.K. economy will suffer if our financial sector is denied a stable tax and regulatory regime.”

One “major global bank” has told the mayor’s office that 1,600 workers have asked for help in moving away from the U.K., while another company plans to relocate as many as 800 staff members in the next three months, according to the statement

TOP -- Tullett Prebon Plc, the inter-dealer broker led by Terry Smith, said it will help employees to leave the U.K. following the government’s decision to put a 50 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses.

The London-based firm “will seek to facilitate, where possible and appropriate, relocation to the company’s other offices around the world which have more certain taxation regimes,” Tullett said in an e-mailed statement. The firm employs about 700 brokers in London and has offices in New Jersey, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

London -- The British government announced a one-time tax on bankers' bonuses. The 50% tax will be levied on 2009 bonuses of more than $40,800.
Darling said that measures to keep people from avoiding the bonus tax would be introduced "with immediate effect". Я хочу посмотреть на этот эффект!!!