[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

New Jersey and New York do the same thing. They eyeball quite a few billionaires who declare Florida as their primary residence. If they sleep 181 nights in New Jersey or Manhattan, they get the gigantic tax bill. It's the danger when you have progressive income tax brackets and keep jacking up the top bracket. 6.99% is enough to have a bunch of high income people gaming the system. If you do the New Jersey 8.97% top bracket, anybody who can flee does so. Manhattan's 8.82% state and 3.876% city top bracket certainly do it.

I don't know if you've been to Nashville recently. Pretty much the whole LA entertainment industry now has their permanent residence there. No state income tax. The leased executive jet business at BNA looks like Teterboro.

I was going to bring this up before, but I know that NY state has "under cover agents" watching these billionaires for the exact reason you stated. I'm unsure if NJ does, and I know CT doesn't, but perhaps CT should start.

[Mike 75]

The takeaway from this article is that states need to either be tax friendly or have large, thriving urban centers. Right now, CT is neither. While CT never had the latter, in the 70's and 80's, and even through the 90's, CT was a very tax friendly state. Not surprisingly, as taxes increased, businesses have left. This idea that CT has not invested in its cities is ridiculous. Hartford has half its budget funded by the state, it has has been the beneficiary of large scale devolpment projects like Constitution Plaza, the Comvention Center, Front Street, the busway, UConn Hartford, among others and yet its teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by Mike 75

The takeaway from this article is that states need to either be tax friendly or have large, thriving urban centers. Right now, CT is neither. While CT never had the latter, in the 70's and 80's, and even through the 90's, CT was a very tax friendly state. Not surprisingly, as taxes increased, businesses have left. This idea that CT has not invested in its cities is ridiculous. Hartford has half its budget funded by the state, it has has been the beneficiary of large scale devolpment projects like Constitution Plaza, the Comvention Center, Front Street, the busway, UConn Hartford, among others and yet its teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

To be fair, Constitution Plaza goes back to the 60's. A couple of old neighborhoods were torn down in order to build it. The Busway was approx 85% funded by the Fed Govt. Uconn is also state funded. Convention Center and Front St I'm not sure about.

For the record, I think Hartford has a decent public bus transportation system, especially in comparison to other cities I've visited. Public transportation will improve even more when the new Commuter Rail opens in 2018 New Haven to Springfield. This is definitely one of the Hartford's area best features, but people fail to recognize it.

[JayCT]

Just saw on tonight's news that the CEO of UTC committed to staying and expanding here in Connecticut. In a speech at the opening of the new UTC Research Center, he said that he is impressed by the state's quality of education and quality of living. Great commitment. Jay

[SeaDoo342]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Just saw on tonight's news that the CEO of UTC committed to staying and expanding here in Connecticut. In a speech at the opening of the new UTC Research Center, he said that he is impressed by the state's quality of education and quality of living. Great commitment. Jay

It's sad when we have to be happy that companies that are already here are "committed to staying"...

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

It's sad when we have to be happy that companies that are already here are "committed to staying"...

Come on now. It is sader that you are ignoring the part that says expanding here. Jay.

[SeaDoo342]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Come on now. It is sader that you are ignoring the part that says expanding here. Jay.

If you think me "ignoring" a word is more sad than the excitement in your post that a company is STAYING here, I'm not the one who is part of the problem...

Aren't you getting tired of making excuses for this state Jay? I would be...

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

To be fair, Constitution Plaza goes back to the 60's. A couple of old neighborhoods were torn down in order to build it. The Busway was approx 85% funded by the Fed Govt. Uconn is also state funded. Convention Center and Front St I'm not sure about.

For the record, I think Hartford has a decent public bus transportation system, especially in comparison to other cities I've visited. Public transportation will improve even more when the new Commuter Rail opens in 2018 New Haven to Springfield. This is definitely one of the Hartford's area best features, but people fail to recognize it.

Part of my point in naming Constitution Plaza was that there has been a 50+ year history in investing in Hartford. Whether the investment has been intelligent or appropriate is another discussion, but it's been going on for quite some time.

One point that is overlooked is the level of corruption in some of our cities. It's no accident that struggling cities like Hartford and Bridgeport have a history of corruption. The state has been remiss in rooting out and aggressively prosecuting municipal corruption IMO. It's all pretty much done by the Feds.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

If you think me "ignoring" a word is more sad than the excitement in your post that a company is STAYING here, I'm not the one who is part of the problem...

Aren't you getting tired of making excuses for this state Jay? I would be...

and Ted Baxter, our governor

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

I was going to bring this up before, but I know that NY state has "under cover agents" watching these billionaires for the exact reason you stated. I'm unsure if NJ does, and I know CT doesn't, but perhaps CT should start.

Sure. As if billies won't figure out to sleep a couple more nights in Florida and avoid the shenanigans.

Originally Posted by Beeker2211

Not sure if someone posted this elsewhere today, but a pretty somber and scathing view of the State's policies since the 80s wondering what others thought of it:

Something is wrong with Connecticut.

Key Takeaways:

"To take one city as an example, Caterpillar, Motorola, and Kraft Heinz have all moved top talent into downtown Chicago. It must be a familiar feeling for Malloy, who watched General Electric announce last January that it would move its headquarters to Boston."

"[on corporate urban flight of the 70s-90s] Connecticut exploited that trend to build itself into an economic powerhouse. It offered enormous tax breaks to lure trading floors to Stamford, Connecticut. Its posh suburbs drew high earners out of New York. But the state was more dependent on the firms than the other way around, and the incentives never stopped. Eventually, low business taxes meant the state came to rely disproportionately on its wealthy residents."

"The bad news is that as the state’s budget deficit grows, the response from Hartford has been to put more obligations on struggling cities rather than on the financial sector. Connecticut’s metropolises are already impoverished and dangerous, starved by decades of suburban separatism and victims of the state’s highly segregated school system."

"... Republicans are pushing for the state to recover its status as a New England tax haven. The truth is that it still is one. Its top marginal income tax rates are lower than those in New Jersey and New York. According to accounting firm Ernst & Young, Connecticut’s total effective business tax rate is the lowest in the country."

Basically, CT got complacent and decided that the era of suburban office parks would continue forever and basically didn't have any care to invest in it's cities like MA did with billions into capital projects for Boston, NY with billions of capital projects into Brooklyn/Manhattan, etc. Of course we can't compete now, we let every slide for two decades with writing on the wall. How many times on this board and in life do people kvetch constantly about small potato money going into the cities? All the mockery of mass transit options like the proposed New Haven trolley? Poo pooing the very nerve of the idea that CT could be a start up centre? The foot stomping about any sort of increases of density in the main corridors of CT's commerce (and then the b*!%ching that we're losing certain demographics)? Sure we might not get to have a Boston, but too many people took that as a convenient excuse to do... pretty close to nothing.

We can't invest 100% in any one type of community, but the way that CT has ignored certain areas is disgraceful. Sorry for the rant, I'm just tired of the self-fulfilling defeatism that has absolutely gripped the state.

Typical BS liberal article. Blames the productive suburbs for not giving enough to Cities. Oh the poor, poor cities. They're just a victim of selfish and greedy towns!!!How people still buy this crap -- that's beyond the pale.

Originally Posted by MrGompers

For the record, I think Hartford has a decent public bus transportation system, especially in comparison to other cities I've visited. Public transportation will improve even more when the new Commuter Rail opens in 2018 New Haven to Springfield. This is definitely one of the Hartford's area best features, but people fail to recognize it.

People don't fail to recognize. They recognize it o'right, but don't wanna use it. And I don't blame them.

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

It's sad when we have to be happy that companies that are already here are "committed to staying"...

LOL.