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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Connecticut to super-rich residents: Please don't leave us
February 9, 2015 - 4:06 PM
By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — If you're a billionaire living in Connecticut,
chances are the tax department is keeping an eye on you.
In a state home to some of the richest Americans, tax officials go to some
lengths to keep them — or, more accurately, keep the billions of dollars in
revenue their income taxes generate.
Connecticut tax officials track quarterly estimated payments of 100 high net
-worth taxpayers and can tell when payments are down. Of that number, about
a half-dozen taxpayers have an effect on revenue that's noticed in the
legislature and Department of Revenue Services.
"There are probably a handful of people, five to seven people, who if they
just picked up and went, you would see that in the revenue stream," said
Kevin Sullivan, the state's commissioner of the Department of Revenue
Services.
With one exception, he said, state officials don't actually approach the
super-rich. He said: "There isn't friendly visiting or anything like that,
how are you feeling? Doing all right? Doing OK?"
Two years ago, tax officials were alarmed that a super-rich hedge fund owner
might leave and reduce the state's income tax revenue. They set up a
meeting and urged the unidentified taxpayer to stay. The effort was partly
successful, with the taxpayer leaving Connecticut but agreeing to keep the
hedge fund here.
"It would be nice to have both, but at least we didn't lose both," said
Kevin Sullivan, the state's revenue commissioner.
Tax officials in a few states said they do not track individual tax payments
, though state budget officials typically follow total quarterly tax
payments by the rich to make sure revenue projections hold up.
And some experts don't believe there's any need to worry about the super-
rich moving to avoid high taxes. "The claims are almost always anecdotal,"
said Matt Gardner, executive director of the institute on Taxation and
Economic Policy.
Connecticut tax officials won't say who the super-rich are, citing privacy,
but it's not hard to guess.
Many movers and shakers in and around New York City, the capital of the
banking and hedge-fund world, work in or populate the verdant suburbs next
door in Connecticut. They include names like hedge fund owner Steven Cohen;
Thomas Peterffy, of Interactive Brokers; Ray Dalio, of Bridgewater
Associates; and Paul Tudor Jones, of Tudor Investment Corp. Combined, their
net worth is more than $40 billion, according to Forbes.
Those four declined to discuss their experiences, if any, with Connecticut
tax officials. But if they or other big-moneyed individuals or their
businesses decide to leave, the danger is real.
In April 2014, super-rich taxpayers in Connecticut and elsewhere shielded
their income through charitable donations or other means to avoid a tax hit
following the expiration of federal tax cuts.
The result: Connecticut income tax revenue plunged by nearly $281 million,
more than 14 percent, compared with the same month a year before. In the
2014 budget year, state income tax revenue was $8.7 billion, more than half
the $16.4 billion in total revenue from taxes and fees.
While tax officials in several states say they track revenue from rich
people's taxes, none said they have approached super-wealthy taxpayers as
Connecticut has, intending to persuade them to stay put.
States may call on them if they see a marked increase or decrease in
payments, said Ronald Alt, senior research associate at the Federation of
Tax Administrators. But he has never heard of state officials lobbying a
taxpayer to stay put.
Arkansas, home to Wal-Mart's Walton family, the owners of Tyson Foods and
other super-wealthy taxpayers, does not contact them to alter their
decisions, said John Theis, the state's assistant revenue commissioner. But
the agency reviews what's changing for the wealthiest employers and
individuals as part of its revenue forecast.
The super-rich tend to donate to charities when tax laws are in flux. Andrew
Hastings, chief development officer at the National Philanthropic Trust,
noted the phenomenon at the end of 2012 with the so-called fiscal cliff, the
combination of expiring tax cuts and across-the-board government spending
reductions.
"It was a windfall for many charities," he said.
Three of the half-dozen or so super-rich taxpayers in Connecticut use the
services of the Greenwich accounting firm Marcum LLP, and each has a yearly
income of more than $1 billion. Partner John J. Mezzanotte also said he has
seen a big step up in charitable giving.
The migration of the rich affects other taxes, such as the sales tax if
wealthy car buyers "bought their Bentley in Florida instead of Greenwich,"
he said.
Sen. L. Scott Frantz, the ranking Republican on the legislature's Finance,
Revenue and Bonding Committee, said the disproportionate impact on state
revenue by one group of taxpayers — in this case, the super-rich — is "
pretty frightening when you think of it."
Even Connecticut's revenue commissioner acknowledges the state can't put too
many eggs in its rich residents' baskets.
The more the government relies on the super-wealthy, the more volatile that
revenue is, said Sullivan, a former Democratic lawmaker. And raising taxes
on the wealthy to attack income inequality has its limits, he said.
Tax policy, he said, should not make the state dependent on the very rich.
"You don't want a system that doesn't ask them to do their fair share," he
said, "but you don't want a system that makes you so reliant on their fair
share that if they all picked up and left tomorrow or died tomorrow you'd be
screwed, as they say in the tax business." | n****g
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【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: Connecticut to super-rich residents: Please don't leave us
: February 9, 2015 - 4:06 PM
: By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press
: HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — If you're a billionaire living in Connecticut,
: chances are the tax department is keeping an eye on you.
: In a state home to some of the richest Americans, tax officials go to some
: lengths to keep them — or, more accurately, keep the billions of dollars in
: revenue their income taxes generate.
: Connecticut tax officials track quarterly estimated payments of 100 high net
: -worth taxpayers and can tell when payments are down. Of that number, about
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