Floridas Sunshine And Tax Benefits Beckon Billionaires

(Wall Street Journal) Juliet Chung and Joseph De Avila Nov. 11 2019 7:00 am President Trumps recently announced adoption of Florida as his home state over his native New York follows a rich tradition of high-profile financiers who have ditched northeastern states for warmer climes with lower taxes. David Tepper Paul Tudor Jones and Barry Sternlicht are among the prominent transplants who have pulled up roots in New York New Jersey or Connecticut in recent years for Florida. New Yorker Carl Icahn has said he is moving his company to Miami next year. One day I was at my home in Florida and thought Why the hell am I staying in New York?" Mr. Icahn 83 years old said in a telephone interview. Mr. Icahn whose philanthropic stamp on New York includes Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said he has lived in New York nearly his entire life and loved it. But in the last few years I believe that it is certainly no longer the city of my youth" he said. The loss of the super-wealthy isnt just a matter of reputation. The exodus of billionaires can crimp state budgets. In 2017 Connecticuts top 100 filers out of a base of 1.8 million paid $1.13 billion in income taxes the equivalent of 12 of the states income-tax revenue for fiscal year 2018.