Lower taxes and a warmer climate are the two reasons why billionaire Carl Icahn is moving his business from New York to Miami, Florida, according to reports.
In May, the New Yorker informed his staff of 50 people at Icahn Enterprises, L.P. about the move and invited them to join him in the sunshine state.
“My employees have always been very important to the company, so I’d like to invite you all to join me in Miami,” Icahn reportedly wrote in a letter to his employees.
Sources said those who choose to move will receive a $50,000 “relocation benefit.” However, those who stay behind in New York will be let go without severance pay, according to the New York Post.
Reports said making the decision to relocate was difficult for the 83-year-old who grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens.
“After spending my entire career in New York, while I certainly do not wish to retire, I’ve decided that at this point in my life I’d like to enjoy a warmer climate and a more casual pace year-round,” he said.
Those close to Icahn also cited lower taxes as one of the reasons why he is leaving New York, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report stated:
Hedge fund billionaires have relocated to Florida for tax reasons for years — David Tepper, Paul Tudor Jones and Eddie Lampert being among the most prominent. But Florida officials have been aggressively pushing Miami as a destination for money managers since the Republican-led tax overhaul. Signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, it set a $10,000 cap for state and local tax deductions, including income and real estate taxes.
In July, Breitbart News reported affluent New Yorkers were abandoning the city in favor of the more reasonably priced Miami-Dade County.
The report said, “more and more New Yorkers are finding the prospect of annual tax and cost-of-living savings between $20,000 and $120,000 by moving to Florida is an offer they cannot refuse. Recent changes in the nation’s tax laws have convinced many financially stressed residents of the Big Apple to make the move south.”
Kristin Tate, an opinion contributor for The Hill, wrote that “At the end of the day, the price of staying in New York is nearly double that of a temperate place geared toward the lifestyle of older Americans.”
In August, Breitbart News reported that the state of Florida was raking in billions of dollars in tax revenue due to the influx of new residents fleeing more highly-taxed states.
Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) mother, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez, said she moved to Florida to save money.
“I was paying $10,000 a year in real estate taxes up north,” she told reporters. “I’m paying $600 a year in Florida. It’s stress-free down here.”
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