Somehow I missed this last month, but it's worth passing along even a couple of weeks late. From Bloomberg News:
New Jersey lost its richest resident late last year when billionaire David Tepper decamped to the tax friendly climes of Florida.
Tepper registered to vote in Florida last October, listing his residence as a Miami Beach condominium, and followed up in December by filing a court document declaring that he is now a resident of the state. He also carried out a business reorganization on Jan. 1 that relocated his Appaloosa Management from New Jersey to Florida, which is free of personal income and estate taxes....New Jersey is one of two states that levy both an estate tax on the deceased and an inheritance tax on their heirs. The state income tax rate for top earners is 8.97 percent, and the state's Democratic legislators have repeatedly pushed for a so-called millionaire's tax that would increase the levy to 10.75 percent.
Looks like Governor Christie still has some work to do to make his state competitive, tax-wise, with the alternatives. How many more people and companies will have to make this move before the point is made that capital is mobile and will move to where it is well treated? My favorite example of stunning cluelessness on this front was the February 15, 2013, New York Times article by James B. Stewart, which appeared under the headline "The Myth of the Rich Who Flee From Taxes." The name of Mr. Stewart's Times column, ironically enough, is "Common Sense."
