[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

12,500 losses after Amazon's $14.70 an hour coup (sar) by Malloy if those 2 leave.

I don't know why you keep bringing this up. You don't think Connecticut should be bothered with companies that offer jobs for lower level people. What about the 100s of high paying jobs at Jackson Labs? Is that the only types of jobs we should bother with? Jay

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

Connecticut is at a very fragile moment right now. Between GE, some little guys looking to escape and can't forget about Sikorsky. If GE and Sikorsky both leave it will be at the same time which is a swing of 13000 jobs lost from one area. Malloy and the band of idiots in hartford are very cocky which might bite them in the butt.

Let's hope that both of these companies stay. The trickle down impact will turn 13000 jobs into 20000 in a short while.

Plus keep an eye on starwood hotels and colt. Colt is about to file chapter 11 and starwood hotels is looking to sell off entire business. Keep an eye on these.

I wouldn't consider Aetna, Travelers and Boehringer Ingelheim "little guys". GE response is just getting the most press, but all are making threats and public statements. What's most interesting is these are companies that have otherwise remained very apolitical and that makes me feel as if their threats are more serious.

When it was the firearms industry, which is deeply political, we expected a bunch of stomping and noise making, but when was the last time you heard of BI threatening state leaders?

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

MRGompers"GE is not a poor company by any stretch of the imagination."

True, but that is a red herring. It does not entitle Ct to shake down GE (any more than my hotel could charge based on personal income varying room by room!), nor does it entitle Ct to tax worldwide earnings GE made elsewhere. as others have noted, that would get tossed in SCOTUS.

These 4 are just the beginning of what Ct will lose..if the Socialists in the state legislature actually get this to stick..until SCOTUS rules it unconstitutional.

GE, AETNA, Travelers...20,000 jobs lost. Amazon adds 500.. Down 19,500 if this sticks. And that is before others follow the lead these proactive 3's path has taken them on.

I can see why people would think its a red herring, but you actually have it reversed. The fact GE has at least $155 million dollars in cash is not a reason for CT or another state to shake them down I agree with that.

However, with that much cash on hand it's disgusting and insulting for GE to try to shake down CT or other states for tax breaks.

This goes back to the whole new US business model of "socializing expenses/losses but privatizing income/gains" I find this concept extremely insulting and I wish more people would be insulted by it too including our politicians.

If I was advising Malloy I would tell him to quote directly from GE's financial statements. I would even hand out copies at press conferences. The beauty of a public company is that all their financial data has to be published. The info is in front of us already and its free. You can just look it up on your computer while in your pajamas.


I wrote this in another reply, but you can forget about corporations challenging the unitary tax in court. They have been trying since the 1980's and have lost every case (except one I think) and that case concentrated on transferring dividends to a subsidiarie(s).

NY state passed the same unitary tax law last year in 2014.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I wouldn't consider Aetna, Travelers and Boehringer Ingelheim "little guys". GE response is just getting the most press, but all are making threats and public statements. What's most interesting is these are companies that have otherwise remained very apolitical and that makes me feel as if their threats are more serious.

When it was the firearms industry, which is deeply political, we expected a bunch of stomping and noise making, but when was the last time you heard of BI threatening state leaders?

The gun makers were too small to matter. I can't imagine they employed more than 1000 people combined. I also don't think they were complaining about taxes. It was more of a Constitutional rights issue to them I think.

[BobNJ1960]

JayCt, The lower paying Amazon jobs will not allow people to live reasonably in Ct given its COL. They are good for kids living with parents, but for that to work, corps like GE cannot leave.

[BobNJ1960]

MrGompers, GE did not start shaking down Ct. If this new tax bill did not exist, neither would the exploratory committee. Ct punched a giant, and acts like a victim cause it hit back. That is hilarious.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

MrGompers, GE did not start shaking down Ct. If this new tax bill did not exist, neither would the exploratory committee. Ct punched a giant, and acts like a victim cause it hit back. That is hilarious.

I don't see it that way. If anything they are going to use it as leverage against CT when they get offers from other states. If they think they are going to find the same quality of employees in Georgia they have another thing coming. They also are not going to get more than 10% of CT employees to move either unless perhaps they buy everyone's house and pay the same CT wage.

They still need to maintain their current customers and business relationships while going thru a relocation. That is going to be near impossible and they will experience a lot more attrition then they think.

I previously worked at a company that moved from CT to OH. It was not pretty and this company was no where near the size of GE.I can only imagine how difficult it would be to move a multi billion dollar corporation.

Business people are usually smart and play both sides. I'm sure GE contributes to both Democrat and Republican parties and when the time comes they are going to cash in on those contributions.

[BobNJ1960]

They are now looking elsewhere, and they should, but get your eyes checked. The committee came post tax hike, not pre tax hike. Ct hit GE; GE hit back, just as one should against any tyrant.

PS: They will get great employees anywhere. 40% will no doubt relo anyway at minimum (corps always get 40-50%), the rest they would rather hire local for, as tax incentives to do so will be huge.

With other corps sure to leave, anyone offered relo options would be dumb to reject it. Their home job market is weaker then before this massive tax hike.

I'm not sure Georgia will win; they were the first to call, but there will no doubt be 20 more bidding. May the best business environment state win.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

The gun makers were too small to matter. I can't imagine they employed more than 1000 people combined. I also don't think they were complaining about taxes. It was more of a Constitutional rights issue to them I think.

Agreed. However the economic impact was actually quite high (I can't recall the exact figures though). The point I was making is that they regularly kicked and screamed about state level issues affecting their industry, where companies like BI and Aetna typically do not, and therefore their voice in this matter indicates the scale of uneasiness surrounding this event.

[MrGompers]

I'm curious what happened in NY state last year when they also passed the unitary tax ? I don't remember the press running stories about NY companies leaving. According to this list I don't see where CT raised the corp tax rate
I only see various new sales taxes on new categories of goods and services.

New Tax Plan Will Hurt Connecticut » Connecticut House RepublicansConnecticut House Republicans

So all of this complaining is about the unitary tax which is already in place in various states including our neighbor New York?