June 23, 2008
City Council Members Support Tax on Hedge Funds
The NY Sun reports 26 out of the 51 City Council members support an Assembly bill that would require hedge fund and private equity managers to pay more in taxes.
The City Council is looking for ways to raise money (like implementing a hotel room tax) rather than slashing programs, noting, "With New York City facing tight budget projections in the years to come, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure everyone is paying their fair share of the tax burden before we ask those who depend on social services and public investments to suffer in the form of budget cuts to schools, mass transit, or health care."
While Governor Paterson and the Legislature would need to sign off on such a tax, this also flies in the face of Mayor Bloomberg's "don't tax the rich" stance. The Mayor believes if the "best and brightest" are taxed--especially as we're competing with other global cities for their talents--they will flee. And the City Council members and others who oppose this kind of a tax say the unincorporated business tax should be eliminated completely and this is not the time to introduce a tax, given the woes of Wall Street.
Last year, the NY Times examined how Senator Schumer defends hedge funds' and private equity firms' low tax rate.
Photograph of City Hall by Triborough on Flickr
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The sad reality is many hedge funds are just a dozen people in a room. They could pack up and move out in less than a day to avoid this tax.
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But they're the ones that created the crisis which requires the tax. Duh!
And these guys aren't going anywhere... who'd take 'em?
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Tax em just to run these parasites out of the State. Hedge fund managers are parasites, not "The Best & Brightest"
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angrygod does have a point; i work for a mag. that revolves around the hedge fund world, and it seems that the smaller players--as well as some of the larger ones--have no real ties to the city, despite Wall Street proximity.
I think we should get a piece of their profits, but I do worry that they'll just take their business elsewhere.
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There are 51 City Council members? Holy crap. What a waste!
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via http://gothamist.com/profile/BINGORAMAIREZ
"I'D LIKE TO SEE ALL THE YUPPIE AND HIPSTER TOURIST CRACKERS THAT WONT GO HOME TO THE HELL HOLE CRACKER PLACES YOU CAME FROM. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE CRACKERS. YOU ARE TOURISTS TOO. YOU JUST ARE STAYI..."
damn dude. i'm white, i'm from new york state, am I in this grand vision of yours? jeeesus.
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This definitely would chase hedge funds away. They'll just move to Stamford, Westchester or another region of the country and NYC will lose a *lot* of tax revenue. There's only so much governmental fleecing that they'll put up with for the cachet of being in NYC.
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Yeah city council, good luck with that. Considering the state of California just backed off their "let's regulate hedge funds" stance, I don't think we'll see hedge fund taxes anytime soon. They backed off for the same reason NYC won't be taxing hedge funds, the hedge funds mgmt companies are small enough to just pick up and go to Greenwich.
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This is gonna be interesting. They'll go to Connecticut for sure if it's passed. So let's pass this bad boy!
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Considering how F-cked up Wall Street & the Stock Market is these days, Hedge funds will be as extinct as the Dinosaurs in a few years- GOOD RIDDANCE!!
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I'm shocked how close the vote was. I wonder who voted against this bill and where they get most of their contributions.
thankfully Pb is still cheap.
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I wasn't aware tax revenue decisions were based solely on who losers envy so badly.
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well now you know.
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This is another hair brained city council move -- as usual - it's a politically expedient move since most people don't understand or are envious.. Instead of looking for more revenue they should be looking at making budget cuts.
I dont have enough money to care personally about this, but these guys will definitely change their taxable location. why wouldn't they. Its the same with the millionaires tax they proposed. this set of people are extremely mobile and probably have homes already outside of NYC. All this does is reduces the tax the city will take in.
And on the same note, we need to compete against other countries now, countries like dubai are becoming centers for trade, not NY which has been on a steady decline. Since the hated wallstreet companies are the only major backbone for the city, this does not bode well for any of us. NYC politicians dont seem to understand that if you chase away your income earners, there will be no one left to pay for the masses on the public dole (their voters, LOL).